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UMTSCapacitysimulationstudythesis Hurtado
UMTSCapacitysimulationstudythesis Hurtado
Project Supervisors:
• Dr. ir. Geert Heijenk, University of Twente
• Prof. Dr. ir. Boudewijn Haverkort, University of
Twente
• Dr. ir. Bert Haverkamp, Vodafone Netherlands
Copyright © October 2005, Andrés Felipe Cosme Hurtado, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Abstract
In this work, simulations are performed using the Wines simulator, which
is a dynamic simulator that models all the radio-resource management
functionality of the UTRAN. Two main series of experiments have been
performed. In the first series simulations have been performed on an
analysis area defined in common agreement with international colleagues
at Vodafone. The distribution of the traffic in this simulation scenario is
homogeneous and the main purpose is to find capacity figures when
increasing the traffic density of one of the four possible defined services
(WWW, FTP, voice and video-call) and also with a given traffic mix
involving all services together. Two mobility profiles are used (pedestrian
and vehicular).
For the service mix analysis in both scenarios (homogeneous and non
homogeneous) it was found that the capacity is mostly downlink-limited
(i.e. the downlink power target level is exceeded before the uplink load
target level).
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Acknowledgements
I’m also very grateful to my Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name and in
whose precepts I try to aim every action in my life.
And last but not least, I want to thank all the support and understanding
from my friends in Colombia, Spain and The Netherlands and to all my
family, specially to my mother Imelda Rocío, my sister María Claudia, and
my father Galo Alberto, who always encourage me to pursue higher goals
and cheer me up in the difficult moments. God bless you all and this work
is dedicated to you.
ii
List of Abbreviations
3G Third Generation
CE Channel Elements
DL Downlink
DS Direct Sequence
iii
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
IP Internet Protocol
ME Mobile Equipment
MS Mobile Station
MT Mobile Termination/Terminal
PN Pseudo-Noise
SF Spreading Factor
iv
SRNC Serving RNC
TE Terminal Equipment
UE User Equipment
UL Uplink
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Table of contents
1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................15
1.1 PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS ABOUT UMTS CAPACITY 15
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT 16
1.3 OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE THIS WORK 17
1.3.1 General Objective 17
1.3.2 Scope 17
1.4 PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH 18
1.4.1 Assignment parts 18
1.4.2 Activities before simulation 18
1.4.3 Activities during Simulation 19
1.4.4 Activities after Simulation 19
1.5 DOCUMENT STRUCTURE 19
vi
5. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST SIMULATION SCENARIO AND
GENERAL SETUP OF THE SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS.......................56
5.1 SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS AREAS 56
5.2 ENVIRONMENT ASSUMPTIONS 57
5.3 DEFINED SERVICES AND TRAFFIC MIX 58
5.4 SERVICE CONFIGURATION 59
5.4.1 Radio Bearer Properties 59
5.4.2 Signal to Interference Ratio 60
5.4.3 Service Prioritization 61
5.4.4 Optional Semi-Dynamic Mode 61
5.4.5 Physical Layer parameters 61
5.4.6 Traffic Model parameters 62
5.4.7 Traffic Matrices 64
5.5 GENERAL NETWORK LAYOUT ASSUMPTIONS 65
5.5.1 RNC assumptions 65
5.5.2 Node B assumptions 65
5.5.3 Cell assumptions 66
5.6 DEFINED KPI’S (KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS) 66
5.6.1 KPIs for Circuit switched services (Voice, Video Tel): 67
5.6.2 KPIs for Packet switched services (WWW, FTP) 67
5.6.3 Defined KPI Thresholds 67
5.7 GENERAL SIMULATION SETTINGS 72
5.8 SIMULATION PLAN 72
5.8.1 Homogeneous Scenario 73
5.8.2 Non-homogeneous Scenario 76
5.8.3 Analysis of a specific network parameter 79
5.9 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 5 81
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
viii
1.3 CHANNELIZATION (SPREADING) CODES 3
1.4 SCRAMBLING CODES 5
1.5 THE PROCESSING GAIN, SIR (SIGNAL TO INTERFERENCE RATIO) AND EB/NO
CONCEPTS IN UMTS [VOUREKAS] 6
1.6 UMTS ARCHITECTURE (REL99) 10
1.7 RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ALGORITHMS 13
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
List of Tables
Table 1: Parameters and Probability distribution for the Wines' WWW Traffic Model ..........53
Table 5: Assumed traffic densities (in Erlangs/Km2) for the two simulations of the Power rule
study .................................................................................................................................75
Table 6: Assumed DL losses and PCICH Power for the Power Level experiments ................75
Table 7: Assumed traffic densities and scaling factors for the power rule study, non
homogeneous scenario......................................................................................................76
Table 8: CPICH and DL Losses for the power experiment, non homogeneous scenario ........79
Table 10: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, blocking
probability target = 1%.....................................................................................................96
Table 11: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, dropped
probability target = 1%.....................................................................................................97
Table 12: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Downlink
Channel elements target = 256 .........................................................................................99
Table 13: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Uplink Channel
elements target = 64..........................................................................................................99
Table 14: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Downlink Iub
congestion target= 1070 Mbps. ......................................................................................101
Table 15: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Uplink Noise
Rise congestion target = 60% .........................................................................................103
Table 16: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Downlink
transmitted power congestion target = 38.7 dBm...........................................................104
Table 17: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Downlink Code
Tree usage congestion target = 60%...............................................................................105
Table 19: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, parameter sf8Adm=1, Blocking probability target = 1% ..................................108
x
Table 20: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, parameter sf8Adm=8, Blocking probability target = 1% ..................................110
Table 21: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, Downlink and Uplink channel element target: 256, 64.....................................112
Table 22:Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, DL Iub congestion target = 1.07 Mbps .............................................................113
Table 23: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, uplink load target = 60 % ..................................................................................114
Table 24:Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, DL Transmitted power congestion target = 38.7 dBm......................................116
Table 25: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, DL code tree usage target = 60% ......................................................................117
Table 26: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only
service, throughput target = 100 Kbps ...........................................................................118
Table 28: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target threshold for blocking = 1%....................................................................120
Table 29: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP only
service, target threshold for dropping = 1% ...................................................................121
Table 30: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target DL and UL CE usage: 256, 64. ...............................................................123
Table 31: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target DL throughput =1.07 Mbps.....................................................................124
Table 32: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target UL load = 60% ........................................................................................125
Table 33: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target Downlink power = 38.7 dBm..................................................................126
Table 34: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target DL code tree usage = 60% ......................................................................127
Table 35 :Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, FTP-only
service, target throughput = 100 Kbps............................................................................128
Table 37: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, video call
service, blocking probability target=0.01 .......................................................................130
Table 38: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, video call
service, Uplink load target = 0.6 (60%)..........................................................................131
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Table 39: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, video call
service, Downlink Transmitted Power target = 38.7 dBm .............................................132
Table 43: Calculation of the ODV for the Service Mix, non-homogeneous scenario............139
Table 44: Summary table with the ODV Figures to be used for the analysis.........................141
Table 45: Blocking probability service mix, target =0.01 (1%) .............................................142
Table 47: Dropping probability service mix, target =0.01 (1%) ...........................................143
Table 48: Channel Elements usage, service mix, uplink and downlink channel elements target:
256, 64 ............................................................................................................................145
Table 49: Downlink Iub utilization, service mix, Downlink target 1070 Kbps......................146
Table 51: Downlink power usage, service mix, target 38.7 dBm...........................................148
Table 52: Downlink code tree usage, service mix, target 0.6 (60%)......................................149
Table 54: List of KPIs organized by order of occurrence of their target levels .....................164
Table 55: Downlink Transmitted Power levels per cell, non homogeneous scenario ............169
Table 56: Estimation of the number of users until reaching the blocking target (1%), non
homogeneous scenario, voice only service.....................................................................170
Table 57: Estimation of the number of users until reaching the CE targets (256 DL, 64 UL),
non homogeneous scenario, voice only service..............................................................172
Table 58: List of KPIs for the non-homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the
target threshold ...............................................................................................................177
Table 59: List of KPIs for the homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the target
threshold .........................................................................................................................178
Table 60: Downlink Throughput levels for all services, traffic mix with voice 40 Erl/Km2,
non homogeneous scenario.............................................................................................182
Table 61: Chosen levels for the parameter Time to Trigger 1A.............................................188
xii
Table 63: Original table for ANOVA, Uplink Load ..............................................................192
Table 66: Logarithm transformation of the measured variable Handover attempts ...............194
Table 67: Logarithm transformation of the measured variable Uplink load ..........................194
Table 69: ANOVA of Uplink load with the multiplicative model .........................................195
Table 72: Main results for the analysis of the parameter Time to trigger 1a..........................198
Table 73: List of KPIs for the non-homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the
target threshold ...............................................................................................................200
Table 74: List of KPIs for the homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the target
threshold .........................................................................................................................201
Table 75: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, Voice-0nly service ............203
Table 76: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, Video call-only service .....203
Table 77: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, Web-only service ..............204
Table 78: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, FTP-only service...............205
Table 79: List of KPIs for the non-homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the
target threshold ...............................................................................................................206
Table 80: List of KPIs for the homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the target
threshold .........................................................................................................................206
xiii
1. Introduction
UMTS capacity, understood as the maximum number of users per cell that
can be supported while meeting the performance objectives set per each
service, is a crucial factor to have into account in the network expansion
because it allows estimating the required resources to meet future workload
demands. It is also important to ensure that at the present time, with the
current resources, the current traffic demand is being covered with the
sufficient quality per each service. At the first stages of a network roll-out,
operators try to focus their initial cellular design to get as much coverage as
possible. But then, when the traffic starts increasing, problems can arise if
they are not somehow prevented or detected.
a. Ensure that the currently available resources are used to provide the
highest performance (also known as capacity management [Jain])
b. Ensure that enough resources will be available to meet the future
workload demands (also known as capacity planning [Jain]).
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
16
1.3 Objectives and scope this work
Part of the assignment is also to verify the behavior of the UMTS network
with a limited number of parameters in the simulator using and/or mapping
the UMTS current network settings in the real Vodafone UTRAN (Ericsson
RRM parameters).
1.3.2 Scope
• The tool to use to perform the Dynamic Simulations will be Radio Plan
Wines.
17
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
For the first part of the assignment, simulations are going to be performed
over an analysis area defined in common agree with our international
colleagues of Vodafone. The distribution of the traffic in this simulation
scenario is homogeneous and the main purpose is to find capacity Figures
when increasing the traffic density of one of the four possible defined
services (WWW, FTP, Voice and Video-call) and also with a given traffic mix
involving all services together. Two mobility profiles are used (pedestrian and
vehicular).
18
make the simulation, understand its limitation and capabilities and try
to determine how different should be a real-world scenario compared
with a simulation-scenario.
• Get acquainted with statistical techniques (especially design of
experiments, 2^k factorial designs) to perform a systematic analysis
of the simulation results.
• Propose different simulation scenarios, agree in the Traffic Mix to be
used (service and service portion definition), Agree in the Traffic Model
(Data arrival process) for each service and estimate the corresponding
traffic densities to be simulated.
• Get acquainted with Ericsson Documentation of Vodafone Netherlands
UMTS-WCDMA equipments; understand its different parameters and
how they should be mapped to Wines in order to perform simulations
with realistic network settings.
Chapter 1 Presents the problem statement, the objectives and scope of the
work and the approach used to solve it.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Chapter 9 presents a comparison between the results obtained for the “ideal
model” and for the “more realistic” one.
Chapter 10 draws the conclusion of this work and proposes the future work.
Additionally, all the Excel sheets containing the simulation outputs and the
summary sheets where the statistical analysis was performed per each
Scenario /KPI level are also provided.
20
2. Capacity and Simulation
(introductory) concepts
One of the first tasks of this work was to clearly define what is understood by
capacity within the scope of the project. In the consulted literature [Jain]
[Holma], [Madder], [ITU], several different definitions about capacity were
found. The idea of “capacity” therefore, is not a single one as far as literature
about system performance concerns.
About throughput and response time, which are commonly used in this type
of studies, two very concise definitions can be found in [Jain] and they are as
follows:
Response Time is defined as the interval between a user’s request and the
system response. However, one has to take into account that the requests as
well as the responses are not instantaneous: the user takes time generating
a request, and the system also takes time to produce a response. Then, two
possible definitions of the response time would be:
21
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Both definitions are acceptable, however the last one seems to be the most
widely used. Both are illustrated in the next graph.
User
User User System System System
Starts
fi i h l
time
Reaction
Think
Response Time
Response Time
Some of the definitions related to UMTS capacity found in the literature which
talks about UMTS system dimensioning are as follows:
• Capacity [Mader] means the maximum possible offered load for a Base
Station (Node B) with a particular service mix while meeting
predefined blocking probabilities.
22
2.2 Soft capacity vs. hard capacity
23
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Therefore, having defined both “soft” and “hard” capacity resources, one can
also talk about “soft blocking probabilities” and “hard blocking probabilities”:
Hard blocking probabilities are easy to calculate in hard capacity limited
systems using known models (Erlang B or Erlang C). This models are very
accurate when calculating single service, circuit switched traffic (e.g. Speech-
only service), given that the assumptions made in the model (exponential
inter arrival times and exponential call duration) are generally true for
Telephony systems.
Soft Resources:
• Uplink Interference
• Downlink Power
• Downlink Spreading code usage
Hard Resources
24
2.3 Capacity management vs. capacity planning
On the other hand, Capacity planning refers to the activity of ensuring that
adequate resources will be available to meet the future workload demands
while meeting the performance objectives.
25
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The capacity planning and capacity analyses are by themselves two cases of
performance evaluation over complex systems with complex dynamics in
space and time.
We could say, generally speaking, that there are three techniques to face the
performance evaluation of a system like UMTS RAN:
Analytical Modeling
Simulation
Measurements
There are advantages and disadvantages for each one of the techniques, so
basically the selection of one, or a combination of such techniques (in
practical problems, the use of two or more techniques is a common
approach), depends very much on the problem and it has to take into
account important considerations, such as:
26
networks, the Erlang-B and Erlang C models, works well in such kind of
single-service voice-only networks, but there is no way to apply directly the
Erlang model when we have a mix of circuit-switched and packet-switched
services sharing the air interface, as in the UMTS case.
Besides, the data arrival models, also known as traffic models, are very
different between circuit-switched and packet-switched services. The way we
traditionally model circuit-switched services with a Poisson arrival process
(process that states that call arrivals are mutually independent and the call
inter-arrival times are all exponentially distributed with one and the same
parameter λ), doesn’t fit very well with packet-switched services, because
Poisson arrival cannot cope with the burstiness (i.e. high variability: from
extremely short service times to extremely long ones and from extremely
low-rate to extremely high-rate connections) of these services. Some
interesting approaches to cope with the burstiness of data traffic using fractal
distributions are presented by Willinger and Paxon in their papers
[Mathforinternet] and [Wedontknow].
• Do not trust the results of a simulation model until they have been
validated by analytical modeling or measurements.
• Do not trust the results of an analytical model until they have been
validated by a simulation model or measurements.
• Do not trust the results of a measurement until they have been validated
by simulation or analytical modeling.
One of the future-work activities that are proposed on this report is the
validation of Simulation Results using measurements. This was considered
out of the scope of this project due the limited amount of time.
27
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
For instance, with simulations, it’s easy to answer questions like “What
happens if we modify X parameter at Y value?” without performing costly live
lab tests or making test over the production network (a practice that should
be avoided at all given the serious effects that can be caused on it).
Secondly, a simulation also has the advantage over the analytical approach
that the model can be more detailed (i.e. with less simplifying assumptions)
and therefore its results more close to the reality.
Simulations are also a good option when modeling system dynamics based
on stochastic processes: in the tool being used, each user of the system is
modeled as a random process that asks for a service and moves in space and
time and at every time interval the contribution of the other users to the
overall network performance is being tested; this would be something very
difficult to model just with the help of analytical techniques.
Finally, simulations allow us to test the system under different workloads and
environments; i.e. changing the environment parameters, we can observe
how the network with the same system parameters setting behaves in terms
of KPIs.
We cannot ask also for accuracy in the results, unless we have some
feedback (measurements) from a real system to make a comparative
analysis of the outcomes (simulation tuning).
Third disadvantage of the simulations is the time that they take and the
knowledge required to parameterize the system (as simulations can model
the system in a more detailed way than the analytical approach); usually the
more detailed the simulation tool, the longer time it takes. Also, when
making statistical analysis over the simulation results that involves inter-
relations among parameters, the complexity (and time) of these analysis
depends on the number of parameters (factors) to be analyzed and the
number of levels (values) defined for each parameter. There are some
statistical techniques, as the ones mentioned in [Jain] that try to reduce the
complexity and deal with these kinds of analysis. These techniques are going
to be applied in this report whenever it is possible.
28
2.5 Summary of Chapter 2
Simulations are also a good option to test systems with complex dynamics in
space and time (as the UMTS RRM algorithms), whose analysis, based on
stochastic processes, is almost impossible to perform with pure analytical
techniques. With UMTS dynamic simulations is possible to model user’s
dynamics in space and time and therefore it is possible to mimic different
mobility profiles (e.g. vehicular, pedestrian) and different traffic distributions
(distribution of the active users per area unit) and check the performance of
the network in different load and usage profile scenarios.
We cannot provide absolute Figures with simulations: all the Figures that we
get are valid just for the scenario being tested and under the assumptions
being made.
We cannot ask also for accuracy in the results, unless we have some
feedback (measurements) from a real system to make a comparative
analysis of the outcomes (simulation tuning). As a future work, it is proposed
a study that allows testing the accuracy of the simulation results with Wines
comparing them with measurements from the live UMTS network.
Another disadvantage of the simulations is the time that they take (specially
Dynamic simulations are very time and resource consuming) and the
knowledge required to parameterize the system.
29
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Dimensioning
Detailed Capacity and Coverage planning
Network Optimization
The differences in the descriptions are basically in the way those steps are
connected and how they implement the feedback. For this study, I will
introduce the Radio Planning Process using the ITU IMT-2000 vision
presented in [ITU], although the description of each activity is complemented
with all the information mentioned in all the literature consulted regarding
this process.
The following graph illustrates the key steps of the UMTS W-CDMA Radio
Planning process according to [ITU]
30
Traffic prediction
1 Definition of the radio parameters,
WCDMA and marketing
Number of sites
2 Dimensioning
Inter-site distance
In this first step, the main (radio) features of the mobiles and Base Stations
(Node-Bs) are defined (for instance: power levels, noise Figures, antenna
gains, sensitivity), together with the definition of the services and a first
estimation of the traffic.
31
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
impact from other cells (interference, soft handover) is also taken into
account.
The output of this first step is the Traffic Prediction (traffic densities per area
unit, normally given in Erl/Km2) for each one of the services of the network.
3.1.2 Dimensioning
In GSM networks, the link budget is used to estimate the expected cell radius
in a given environment. This link budget in GSM constitutes a relative simple
operation and can be performed manually since it only deals with
propagation parameters.
The following graph illustrates the Uplink Iteration Process and it is based on
the description provided by (Alcatel). The Downlink Iteration process has
some important differences, mostly because the main reference for the
calculations is not the interference level but the total Downlink Power. Details
are not mentioned here for the sake of brevity; however the reader is invited
to take a look at (Alcatel) to obtain more information about it.
32
Assume Initial Interference
Noise Rise, e.g. Ico = 3 dB
Apply System-level
simulation for a given
cell load (e.g. ηul=99%)
Calculate Interference
level
Converge
Current Radius is
nce of Ic
UL cell radius
and Ico?
Continuing with the UL iteration process example, to calculate the cell range,
one has to define first the sensitivity (minimum required power level at the
receiver in order to be decoded) for a reference user i of each service k:
Required_Leveli [dBm] = NF + 10 Log (No) + 10 Log (ioi) + 10 Log [ Eb/No k] + 10 Log Rk
(3-1)
33
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Where:
Where:
PULk is the mobile power valid for service k [dBm]. In equation 3-2, all the
Losses, margins and gains are given in dBs.
Once determined this Figure for all services, the smallest Lmax is chosen as
the limiting maximum path loss. And applying a propagation model (e.g.
Okumura-Hata, Walfisch-Ikegami); we can derive the corresponding cell
range.
Now, we have to find the cell load to be able to determine the interference
over noise rise and compare this Figure, at the end of the UL iteration
process (the final decision symbol of Figure 11), with the initial assumption .
First, for each service, we can deduce the traffic per cell as the number of
subscribers per square kilometer is known or assumed from the previous
step in the radio planning process and the area can be expressed in terms of
the cell range found; for instance for an hexagonal cell with omni-directional
antenna, the area is around 2.6R2, where R = cell range [Kms].
The next step is to calculate the load in the cell, several approaches are
mentioned in [Alcatel], [Holma], [Jabber], the one presented in [Jaber]
which is based on a modified stochastic knapsack model for multi-service
UMTS capacity analysis says:
ηul (uplink load factor) = number of active users / Pole Capacity (3-3)
Where “Pole Capacity” means 100 % cell load and is given by:
Where:
• W : chip rate, in W-CDMA is fixed to 3.84 Mchips/sec
• K = number of offered services
• Eb/No j is the required Eb/No for the service j (j=1…k)
• Rj is the bit rate of service j
• vj is the activity factor of the service j.
34
• Pj is the percentage of the total active users who are using service j
• f = other cell / own cell interference ratio, as seen by the Node B
receiver, usually is assumed a value of 0.55 (55%) for a macro cell
with omni-directional antennas, although more precise methods to
calculate the other cell interference can be seen in [Staelhe2004].
Once we have cell load, we can calculate easily the Interference Noise Rise
because is given by:
And then proceed to estimate the convergence of this value with the
assumed one in the initial step.
The output of the Radio Link Budget and coverage analysis is the cell range
(and the corresponding cell area coverage).
UMTS capacity, understood as the maximum number of users per cell that
can be supported while meeting the performance objectives set per each
service, is a crucial factor to take into account in the network expansion
because it allows estimating the required resources to meet future workload
demands. The capacity planning thus has to be done before setting the real
network (in which case corresponds to the capacity estimation or initial
capacity planning described here) and also when capacity management
(capacity analysis) detects that it is moment to improve the capacity of a site
or the network in general.
Since in WCDMA each user is influencing each other, the whole prediction (of
capacity and coverage) have to be analyzed at the same time and has to be
done iteratively until the transmission powers stabilize.
35
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Based on the capacity and link budget, the number of cells required to cover
a given area can be calculated. A UMTS network can either act as a coverage
or capacity limited in any given moment. Capacity limited means that the
maximum cell radius can’t support the total offered traffic because there are
not enough resources to do it. Coverage limited means that there is
enough capacity in the cell to support the traffic, but the maximum cell range
of a mobile (because it’s limited transmission power) limits it. [ITU]
After the cell count has been obtained in the previous step, detailed radio
network planning, taking into account the exact radio environment (with high
resolution geographical data and accurate propagation models) can start with
the goal to calculate the optimum base station locations, configurations and
parameters; and to analyze the network global performance in terms of
capacity and coverage [ITU]. Both planning processes (capacity and
coverage) are performed with the help of a specialized Tool (the system-level
simulator), which corresponds to the “Network performance simulation”
element mentioned in the ITU's IMT-2000 Radio Planning Process. Both
processes are going to be described as Detailed Coverage and Capacity
Planning in the next sections. The output of both processes (which are
performed simultaneously in UMTS) is the analysis of the simulation results
in terms of network performance.
Once we have the Figures of the previous steps, detailed radio planning,
taking into account information about the radio environment (high resolution
geographical data, clutter information and accurate propagation models as
Walfisch-Ikegami, Okumura-Hata, among others) can be started (normally
this is done with the help of a specialized tool, namely a System-level
simulator) with the goal to calculate the optimum base station locations,
configuration and parameters and to analyze the global network performance
in terms of capacity and coverage [ITU]. This includes advanced studies to
avoid undesirable situations as the pilot pollution (the presence of too many
pilots with significant power levels in the same area, that can cause problems
in the user terminals because normally the receivers cannot handle more
than 4 pilots at the same time, and also brings an increase of Interference, a
higher rate of Errors, the so-called “ping-ponging” effect causing excessive
usage of unnecessary handovers and increased dropped-call rates. Those
studies can be carried with the help of specialized tools such ATOLL [Atoll].
The whole planning process thus includes activities such as:
36
• Detailed characterization of the radio environment
• Channel Power Planning (to avoid Pilot Pollution)
• Soft Handover Parameter Planning
• Iterative network coverage analysis based on simulations
• Network Optimization (to ensure that the network resources are used
efficiently)
a. Ensure that the currently available resources are used to provide the
highest performance (capacity management)
The process that ensures to guarantee these two capacity issues is known as
Capacity Analysis.
37
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
This step deals with site acquisition according to the initial plan given by the
theoretical validation of the step before.
As this is an issue that is not always easy to settle among the operator and
the owner of the sites, sometimes the physical element has to be placed in
another place regarding the initial planning. Therefore, the plan has to be
updated accordingly and the Steps 3 and 4 have to be redone as well to
ensure again an overall good network performance.
38
3.2 Summary of chapter 3
• Ensure that the currently available resources are used to provide the
highest performance (also known as capacity management)
39
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
4. Introduction to Wines
Dynamic System-level
Simulator
This chapter will explain in short the main characteristics of the Simulator
being used for the study (Dynamic, System Level, Discrete Event), the
advantages, disadvantages, and the main features about System Modeling
(including the RRM algorithm modeling and Environment Modeling
(shadowing, multi-path propagation, orthogonality in DL, etc) and User
Modeling (including call generation process and data arrival (traffic models)
). A more complete guide and description of the tool can be found on
[Winesuserguide], [Winestechref], [atollsyncmod] and [RRMEricsson].
Within every snapshot, multiple iterations are run until certain convergence
conditions are met and the snapshot can be considered to be in a steady
state. For instance, uplink transmission power for every user is calculated in
an iterative process, as well as Downlink transmission power for every cell.
The iterations continue by incrementing the corresponding quantity, until the
convergence is met. In the case of the Uplink transmission power, the
convergence for the uplink transmission power for a user is met when:
40
Abs (SIRUL,i – SIRUL target) / SIRUL target < convergence_threshold ( 4-1)
Where:
The problem with the static approach is that the snapshots are not connected
along a time line, so it is not possible to reproduce accurately the status of
the network as it evolves over time when a certain traffic load is offered to
the network and when the RRM algorithms are working with very complex
interactions among them in order to maintain the pre-defined quality targets.
The Dynamic simulator, on the other hand, is a tool that is able to track the
network status as it evolves over time. The status at a certain point in time is
the accumulated result of the entire simulation run until that point
[Winessnapshot]. This goes in line with the Dynamic Nature of the UMTS
RAN. As it is mentioned in [Ramsden], a Dynamic system is the one where
the outputs are a function of both the present values of the input and
internal state variables, which are themselves functions of historical data, as
is the case of the real UTRAN and its RRM algorithms.
41
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
In the dynamic simulator, the users are making calls (according to the so-
called “service arrival” processes) and transmitting data according to the
traffic models (data unit arrival processes). In Wines, the call-generation
process for real-time services (e.g. speech, video) follows a Poisson process
and other probabilistic process are applied over the non-real time services
(FTP, WWW, they are called non-real time since they doesn’t have a
maximum defined delay).
The spatial distribution of the initial user positions is weighted with the traffic
density values of the Traffic Matrix pixels. Consequently, the user distribution
is, for example, uniform if the Traffic Matrix is uniform and covers the entire
simulation area.
42
4.2 The Level of Detail of the simulation: System level
vs. Link Level
43
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Wines Workflow
44
ATOLL
Configuration
Analysis
WiNeS-WCC
Workflow
WiNeS-WCC
Simulation
Wines (an abbreviation for Wireless Network Simulator) is a tool that covers
a model of the radio network layout and its environment.
For the analysis of a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), the
radio network layout is represented by the Radio Network Controller (RNC)
and the locations of the Node Bs and their antennas and corresponding cell
configurations. It is assumed that all Node Bs
are controlled by one and the same RNC. The radio network model supports
multiple services.
45
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
In Wines, the system level model also incorporates a link level model in order
to determine the performance measures based on the interference analysis.
However, instead of simulating at link level, a link level interface defines
rules for mapping the interference statistics to bit or block error probabilities
with respect to the relevant environment and receiver characteristics
[Winesuserguide].
This level describes at what times the user switches his terminal equipment
on or off and includes both active and idle periods. The basic time period is a
“switched-on”-period, equivalent for simulation purposes to the user’s
lifetime (for the simulator, the user is “alive” while he has his UE turned on
and using the corresponding service). This modeling level is characterized by
the arrival process of the mobiles at the time instants when they are
switched on. All the calls are assumed mobile originated, therefore there is
no simulation of the idle-mode behavior (idle mode behavior corresponds to
a User Equipment (UE) that is powered on, but does not have a connection to
the radio network and it is reachable by the system. In wines all the users
originate calls, but not receive them).
46
4.4.1.2 2d level: The Service (or Session) level
This level describes at what times the user requests certain services while
the terminal equipment is switched on. The basic period is a service session
(active mode period).This modeling level is characterized by the arrival
process of service requests. A user is assumed to use only one kind of
service at a time. In case of a multi-service user, this has to be modeled as
two or more users (depending on the number of multiple services) making
use of these services at a time.
As idle mode operation is out of scope of Wines and the active time
corresponds basically to the session time (because at the moment of the
activation the user immediately request a service, and when the user ends
the service it also corresponds to the user de-activation or the UE turned
“off”) the Network Activation and the Service level of the user traffic are
jointly modeled, and this joint process is denoted in the Wines
documentation as the service arrival process.
This level describes the characteristics of the data transmission while the
service is active. The basic period is a data unit (e.g. a packet). This
modeling level is characterized by the arrival process of data units (or
packets). The simulator includes pre-defined Traffic Models, which the user
can parameterize.
47
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
48
Figure 7: Wines UE Profile configuration
4.4.4 The Service Profile
The service profile is the other element regarding the user configuration
that needs to be carefully parameterized, because it contains information
about the service arrival process and the traffic model, the assigned radio
bearer, and some physical layer parameters. The components of a service
profile and their influence on the user/network behavior are shown in the
Figure [Winesuserguide]
The mapping of each one of the QoS classes defined by the 3gPP
(conversational/speech, conversational/unknown, streaming,
49
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
About the traffic matrices, these can be defined in Wines or imported from
existing matrices coming from other radio-planning Tools. In this study, for
the first scenario (homogeneously distributed traffic densities, i.e. the same
traffic density for the whole simulation area) the matrix was defined in Wines
itself. For the second part of the study (non-homogeneously distributed
traffic, which means that the traffic density is not the same over the whole
simulation area), a Traffic Map based on clutter data was generated in ATOLL
and exported to Wines. The next Figure illustrates the Service Profile
configuration window.
50
In the next section, a short introduction to the built-in Traffic models is
explained. The complete description of these models, together with all their
parameters, can be found on [Winestechref].
All services modeled in Wines are supported by a dynamic model for the
arrival of data units on both link directions (UL/DL), where applicable. “Traffic
Model” is used as a synonym for this data unit arrival process in Wines.
Basically, we can distinguish between two categories of Traffic Models:
Interactive and Non-interactive.
tactive
active silent
tsilent
Figure 10: Non-interactive Voice Activity factor, UL direction
51
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
This Voice Activity Factor and the mean holding time define the effective
mean service time for a voice call, which is the multiplication of the voice
activity factor and the mean holding time (specified as an explicit parameter
for CS services in the simulator).
Those are the models where there is a (clear) interaction between UL and DL.
One example is the WWW service, where the user sends requests through
the UL direction and receives the responses in the DL direction. The Wines
model for interactive traffic models is an extension of [30.03]. This model is
illustrated in the next Figure and a further explanation is provided.
52
called datagrams, may be generated leading to a bursty sequence of packets
[Winestechref].
After the document has entirely arrived to the terminal, the user consumes a
certain amount of time for studying it, called the reading time (4). At the end
of the reading time the user may request the next WWW document (5).
Each event in the system (request arrivals, packet call arrivals, etc) it is
characterized by its own probability distribution and its main parameter (the
mean) is configurable. The summary of distributions used for the concrete
case of the WWW traffic model is shown in the next table. For details, refer
to the [Winestechref]
Parameter Distribution
Table 1: Parameters and Probability distribution for the Wines' WWW Traffic Model
53
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The parameterization of the (different) traffic models for the defined services
of this study (WWW, FTP, Video-call, Speech and Mobile TV) was an activity
done in close cooperation with France SFR and it is shown in the appendix 3
(Traffic Models parameters).
54
4.5 Summary of chapter 4
Static simulations don’t have a time reference and therefore are not suitable
to simulate algorithms that have a strong dependence of time (like RRM
algorithms). However, the degree of abstraction in the Static Simulations is
still enough to allow for meaningful statistical evaluations of the network
KPIs. In fact, this is the method currently used for initial dimensioning for
large networks because they are more efficient in terms of time required to
complete a simulation (given its more simplistic modeling approach).
The Dynamic simulator, on the other hand, is a tool that is able to track the
network status as it evolves over time. Dynamic simulator is therefore an
ideal tool for:
55
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Figure 13: First Simulation Scenario, simulation (red) and analysis (yellow) area
56
The Figure above illustrates the first Simulation Scenario. The Network
Layout (including RNC, Node B’s, Antennas) as well as the path-loss
prediction was imported from a Project created in ATOLL radio planning Tool,
and it is based on a real scenario (it is an area taken from the radio planning
map of the city of Bordeaux, France). This scenario was selected because it
was defined as the Base for common capacity dimensioning studies between
the branches of Vodafone in different countries, including The Netherlands.
The Simulation Area represents the area in where the users are created
and once created they are moving in. This Area is represented in the Figure
13 with red borders and has an area of 12 Km2.
The Analysis Area, which is the area where data is collected, is shown in
the Figure 13 with yellow borders. It has an area of 5 Km2.
The main assumptions for this first scenario are a flat landscape (No Digital
Elevation Model is used) and the Homogeneously-distributed traffic for
each of the defined services, therefore no clutter definition and neither traffic
maps based on clutter data were used for this scenario.
This assumption results in identical sites per simulation area, and given the
symmetry in the geometrical distribution of the nodes regarding their inter-
site distances, each one may be considered a “prototype” site at the initial
dimensioning stage, as it is correctly mentioned in [Jaber].
57
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
For the purpose of this study, five services were defined because they
correspond with the current UMTS services offered by Vodafone, although
only four of them were considered in the study. The defined services were:
-) FTP: packet switched asymmetrical service (64 Kbps UL/384 Kbps DL)
-) Web: packet switched asymmetrical service (64 Kbps UL/384 Kbps DL)
The traffic mix, i.e. the percentage of usage of each service relative to the
total usage of services, was defined as it is shown in the following Figure.
This traffic mix was based on internal discussions within members of
Vodafone in different countries and it is assumed to approximately reflect the
current service mix (year 2005). As the users are becoming familiar with the
new Data Services, this traffic mix is expected to change, as it is mentioned
in [umts-forum6].
Traffic Mix [% ]
Service percentage
3,00
0,00
Voice 77,00% 12,50
Video-
call 7,50% 7,50 Voice
Video calls
Web 12,50% www
ftp
Ftp 3,00% Mobile Tv
MobileTv 0.00%
77,00
58
Additionally, within each service, 2 kinds of users were assumed:
The Indoor Users were defined as the 2/3 (66.7%) of the total of users of the
corresponding service, and the Outdoor users were defined as the remaining
1/3 (33.3%). This was conveniently modeled in Wines defining two different
User Terminals per each service (each one with different additional losses)
and the different service portion (i.e. the corresponding 2/3 and 1/3) was
modeled by creating two UE Profiles (indoor, outdoor) per each one of the
defined services.
About mobility types, all simulations were performed with pedestrian mobility
type, except in the specific experiments dealing with the differences between
the two mobility types pedestrian-vehicular (the experiments are specified in
the simulation plan to be presented also in this chapter), a vehicular mobility
type was applied to the Outdoor users.
The Radio Bearer is the service provided by the RLC for the transfer of user
data between the UE and the UTRAN [21.905]. The Radio Bearer contains
RLC parameters, MAC parameters, Transport Format Set(s) (TFS), physical
channel parameters, and the information bit rate. Upon reception of a service
request, the RNC performs a mapping of UMTS service parameters to Radio
Bearer parameters – called Radio Bearer Translation. According to the
specifications, a UMTS service may be mapped to a signaling Radio Bearer or
a combination of a (service-specific) Radio Bearer and a signaling Radio
Bearer [34.108].
59
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Among the radio bearer properties, these have to be defined in the Service
configuration Tab:
• Initial Target Eb/N0 UL: The target Eb/N0 value in uplink for the
respective service. This value is used as target for the inner loop
Power Control as long as no outer loop Power Control is applied.
• Initial Target Eb/No DL: The target Eb/No value in uplink for the
respective service.
The values used for Downlink values for this study are based on a
measurement study performed by Vodafone UK [Moret] and appear in the
confidential appendix 3.
For the Uplink values, an adaptation from the appendix 3 was used.
The adaptation of values for Uplink had into account the following
characteristic of the UL and DL characteristics:
Target Eb/No Uplink < Target Eb/No Downlink (5-1)
This is given because the better reception techniques in the Node B (in
Uplink, Tx = mobile, Rx = Node B), and it is in line with the assumptions
presented in [Alcatel], [25.942] and Wines default values.
If the target values for UL and DL need to be given in terms of the target SIR
(as is the case of another Simulation Tools as Prismo), the target Eb/No can
easily converted into a corresponding target SIR according to the following
relationship:
SIR [dB] = Eb/N0 [dB] - 10 * log10(3840 / (spreading factor * user data
rate [kb/s])). (5-2)
60
5.4.3 Service Prioritization
This value determines the order how services are processed by the
Congestion Control and the Inter-Frequency Handover Control. This is a
value between 1 and 15 where 1 gives the highest priority. The default
service priority is 3. In this study the default value was used, in order to not
interfere with the admission and congestion control implemented in the
Ericsson P3 RRM algorithms.
Decoding Limit Offset UL[dB]: The Eb/N0 threshold for correct (i.e. error-
free) detection of signaling messages in uplink for the respective service,
given as an offset to the target Eb/N0. This value should be negative (in dB)
such that a received data packet that meets the target Eb/N0 condition is
detected correctly. The reference for this Decoding limit was the Capacity
Study performed in Vodafone Germany by Peter Schneider [Schneider-2]
Decoding Limit Offset DL[dB]: The Eb/N0 threshold for correct (i.e. error-
free) detection of signaling messages in downlink for the respective service.
This value should be negative (in dB) such that a received data packet that
meets the target Eb/N0 condition is detected correctly. The reference for this
Decoding limit was the Capacity Study performed in Vodafone Germany by
Peter Schneider [Schneider-2]
Both definitions are in line with the “satisfied user” definition presented in
[25.942] where a user is “satisfied” when the measured Eb/No of his
connection is higher than a value equal to Eb/No target – 0.5 dB. Otherwise,
if it is lower than this limit, the user is considered in outage.
Target BLER UL: It is the target BLER for the outer loop Power Control in
uplink. The value ranges between 0 and 1.
61
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Target BLER DL: It is the target BLER for the outer loop Power Control in
Downlink. The value ranges between 0 and 1.
The target BLER levels in Downlink were based on the same document from
Vodafone UK [Moret] where the DL Eb/No levels were based. For the Uplink
direction the same values for Downlink were assumed.
The traffic model parameters were first defined according to the selection of
the corresponding traffic models implemented in Wines according to the
service. The following Table summarizes this first characterization step. A
complete description of each one of the traffic models is provided in
[Winestechref].
Speech Speech/video
Web WWW
FTP File
Video-call Speech/video
Mobile TV Speech/video
Table 2: Defined Services and Wines Traffic Models used
Once the corresponding traffic model was selected, its parameterization was
the outcome of discussions with colleagues in SFR (France). The agreed
values are presented in the corresponding appendix 3, together with the
description of the source taken to establish the value. Some of them were
based on existing measurements from the GPRS network.
One thing to mention here is the association that Wines makes between a
Service and ASE values which is slightly different than the definition of ASE
provided by Ericsson.
62
limits to a cell’s and hence the network’s capacity. Technically, it is calculated
per radio link connection and defined according to [Ericsson-capacity] as:
ASErl = (max. rate DCH)/(max. rate DCH speech) * ( AF DCH )/(AF DCH speech ) (5-3)
Where:
• ASErl is the air interface speech equivalent for a radio link
• Max.rate DCH is the expected maximum DCH rate for the radio link
(DCH rate takes into account the overhead introduced by coding
techniques and it doesn’t corresponds directly to the information rate,
for the corresponding DCH Rate per Radio Link see appendix 3)
• Max.rate DCH Speech is the expected maximum DCH rate for a
speech radio link connection
• AFDCH is the activity factor of the considered DCH
The ASE for a radio connection is the sum of the ASE of all services on the
radio connection. For example, the Speech radio connection consists of both
the speech service (ASE=1) and the Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
service (ASE=0.61), so the ASE for Speech becomes ASEspeech= 1 + 0.61 =
1.61.
Where:
• ASEDL is the air interface speech equivalent in downlink for the cell
• ASErl DL is the air interface speech equivalent in downlink for a radio
link
• ASEUL is the air interface speech equivalent in uplink for the cell
• ASErl ul is the air interface speech equivalent in uplink for a radio link
• nb radio links per RNC is the number of radio links within respective
RNC
The number of ASEs for a radio link per cell in uplink is divided by the
number of radio links involved in the connection. The principle is that the
average uplink interference a UE creates in the respective cell, is proportional
to the number of cells to which it is connected. This means that if a UE is
connected to two cells, it only requires approximately half the ASEs in each
cell, compared to using one cell.
63
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The traffic values in the traffic matrices are used for several purposes
[WinesTechRef]:
64
In Wines, a traffic matrix is defined per service and it can be either created
directly in the tool (as it was the case for the 1st simulation scenario) or can
be imported from a Radio Planning Tool (as it was in the case of the 2d
simulation scenario).
For the first simulation, each service was associated with a traffic matrix
homogeneously distributed over the whole simulation area. The value of the
(mean) traffic densities were varied according to the simulation plan
explained in the next section.
65
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
“In the downlink, the Downlink Transmitted Carrier Power is the main
monitor used to control the air interface load. ASEDlAdm is a complement to
the load control when:
• Hardware resources are the limiting resource
• The cell can support so many users that it is close to the pole
capacity, which can cause Instability.
As with the first (preliminary) simulations it was found that DL ASE utilization
was the main blocking reason and knowing that the expected reason was
Downlink Transmitted Carried Power, it was decided to follow the
recommendation of Ericsson and put the aseDlAdm parameter near its
maximum value (default value=240. configured value = 480. maximum
value = 500).
The Key Performance Indicators (in this document abbreviated as KPIs) are
the quantities to be measured whether to evaluate the resource utilization
per cell (e.g. DL power usage, UL Noise Rise, DL code tree usage, Channel
Elements usage) as to measure general performance of the UTRAN elements
(Blocking and Dropping Probabilities per RNS/ per cell in case of circuit-
switched connections, and for packet switched connections the throughput
and delay are better performance indicators). Wines Simulator presents a
whole gamma of KPIs to be selected, but to restrict our analysis to the most
important KPIs, the following KPIs have been selected depending on the
switching type of the Services:
66
5.6.1 KPIs for Circuit switched services (Voice, Video Tel):
• % of blocked calls
• % of dropped calls
• number of DL channel elements
• DL Iub capacity
• DL code tree usage
• DL power usage
• UL noise rise
5.6.2 KPIs for Packet switched services (WWW, FTP)
The same KPIs as in the case of circuit switched services were defined,
additionally the throughput per service was also considered.
The thresholds (i.e. the values that define the situation that starts to indicate
a bad network performance (e.g. excessive dropped or blocked calls) and
that for our study represent the operational point to determine the maximum
number of supported users given a certain traffic density and service/service
mix) have been taken after internal discussions with the Engineers of
Vodafone-IT Department. The following table summarizes them.
67
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Reason /
KPI Threshold Value Source
Pool of maximum
available CEs in UL
and DL (not shared
among directions)
per each Node B,
we assume
congestion (in UL or
DL DL) if these limits Vodafone
Channel are passed in UL number of CE UL / number of CE Hardware
Elements and DL respectively DL Department
68
KPI
Reason /
definition Threshold Value Source
69
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
KPI
Throughput
(perceived by
the user):
minimum
acceptable
throughput,
values below
this level Vodafone Internal
indicate a bad Vodafone Internal Average throughput per Marketing
performance Target service [Kbps] Document
70
KPI
71
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The following section describes the simulation setup for each one of the 5
different experiments performed per each scenario (homogeneous and non
homogeneous). Also includes the description of the proposed Analysis of the
72
selected network parameter. It must be mentioned that due to the high
number of performed simulations and the time required to collect and
analyze the results, no repetitions per each experiment have been performed
(i.e. there are no replications per each traffic density level) and therefore the
calculation of the confidence intervals (if required) for the Figures obtained is
left for a further study.
The base for all the experiments was defined in the following Table, where
the traffic densities are scaled regarding the service mix percentages and the
value of the density of the voice (main) service.
These Figures are calculated for 5 different traffic densities per service,
collecting the defined KPIs for the circuit switched services (Voice, Video Tel)
and for the Packet switched services (WWW, FTP). Therefore, the simulations
are performed according the rows of the Table 3, i.e. with 5 different traffic
densities (Erl/Km2) per each service. The main idea is to evaluate the
operational point for each service, given the defined thresholds.
The Total number of required simulations for this step is: Number of services
* 5 = 20 simulations.
73
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
PCICH power levels per each cell can create unbalance in the network and
affect the size of the Handover Zones and the Pilot Polluted zones, so this
study is aimed to check which settings are better in terms of these two
indicators (distribution of the Handover Zones (i.e. active set size >1) and
distribution of the pilot polluted zones).
To define the PCICH Power, there are two possible Reference Points as it is
illustrated in the following Figure:
Wines defines its reference point for the PCICH as the reference point
number one, however the PCICH values provided by the Netherlands and
Germany are given in the Reference Point Number 2, so it means that one
has to take into account the Downlink Losses. The uplink losses are assumed
to be zero.
74
To test this feature, one has to create a simulation with different feeder
losses in the cells, calculate the PCICH power level that the cell would have
according to this rule and test the results for The Netherlands against the
same scenario but applying the rule of Vodafone Germany.
Table 5: Assumed traffic densities (in Erlangs/Km2) for the two simulations of the Power rule
study
The setup for the homogeneous case is summarized in the following table.
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
9 4 dB 29 29 4 cable loss DL = 4
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
5 0 dB 30 33 0 cable loss DL = 3
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
14 0 dB 30 33 0 cable loss DL = 3
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
10 0 dB 30 33 0 cable loss DL = 3
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
4 2 dB 30 31 2 cable loss DL = 3
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
8 1 dB 30 32 1 cable loss DL = 3
PCICH Power = 33
dBm, cable loss DL = PCICH Power = 33 dBm,
13 2 dB 30 31 2 cable loss DL = 3
Table 6: Assumed DL losses and PCICH Power for the Power Level experiments
75
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
In this study, one has to create the same Figures per voice service (main
service) and per traffic mix of the third column of the Table 3, but now with a
vehicular mobility profile for the outdoor users. Then, one has to compare
the results with the pedestrian profile. Only Soft-handover type has been
activated so far. Number of required simulations: 5 (voice densities) + 1
(traffic mix of the third column)
Using the same traffic map, a replica of this map must be associated to each
service and the maximum traffic densities must be scaled according to the
“columns” of the table 3. Number of required simulations: 5
The setup of the different power levels (regarding the same reference points
of the Figure 15) is shown in the table below.
76
PCICH
path Power WinesPCICH
loss PCICH Power Germany settings GE WinesPCICH
(from NL (Reference (Reference (Reference settings NL
Site ATOLL) 2) 2) 1) (Reference 2)
U000751 3 30 30 33 33
U011381 4 26 29 33 30
U011382 4 26 29 33 30
U011383 4 26 29 33 30
77
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
U030772 1 30 32 33 31
U030802 3 30 30 33 33
U030841 2 30 31 33 32
U030842 2 30 31 33 32
U030843 2 30 31 33 32
78
U035702 2.74 30 30.26 33 32.74
U051651 3 30 30 33 33
U051652 3 30 30 33 33
U051653 3 30 30 33 33
This is analysis was performed with one of the parameters that have not
been harmonized between Vodafone Global and Vodafone Netherlands.
Applying the technique of two-factor analysis in Jain’s book (the two factors
here are the traffic load and the parameter being tested), one has to test the
parameter with 5 (5 or less, i.e. in case that some of them are the same
value) possible values:
• Minimum value of the parameter
• Maximum value of the parameter
• Default Value (given by Ericsson)
• Value in The Netherlands
• Value in Vodafone Global
79
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
80
5.9 Summary of chapter 5
The main results of this chapter are the definition of the main KPIs for
circuit-switched and packet-switched services, the target thresholds (defined
on Table 3), the characterization of the network and environment layout for
the homogeneous scenario, and the design of the simulation plan required to
make the analysis of the proposed studies.
81
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Figure 16: Simulation (red) and Analysis (yellow) Area for the Second Scenario
82
For this second scenario, a non-homogeneous traffic distribution, no – flat
area (a Digital Elevation Model was used) was chosen. The traffic densities
were generated based on the Clutter information also available from the
Database of the Radio Planning Tool (ATOLL).
The simulation Area (area with red border in Figure 24) has an extension of
59.71 Km2, whereas the analysis area (area with yellow border in Figure 24)
has an extension of 34.75 Km2. The area corresponds with the active
transmitters (antennas) deployed in the downtown of the city of Maastricht.
The following image illustrates the selection of the computation zone
(equivalent to the simulation area in Wines) and the focus zone (equivalent
to the analysis area in wines) in ATOLL radio planning tool.
Figure 17: Selection of the computation and focus zone in ATOLL radio planning Tool
Regarding the number of Node B’s and cells, they reflect the number of
active transmitters in the selected area:
-) 21 Node Bs in the Simulation Area, all with 3 cells/Node B except for the
Site S00079.
-) 18 Node Bs in the Analysis Area, all with 3 cells/Node B except for the
Site S00079 (53 cells in total).
83
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The clutter map for this second scenario is shown in the next Figure.
84
As this is a study target mostly at determining capacity Figures and the
purpose of the second scenario is to test the network regarding a non-
homogeneous traffic matrix, the clutter classes are used just for the purpose
of assigning different traffic densities to each of the clutter classes, not to
test the effect of different propagation conditions in each clutter-class.
Therefore, the clutter classes’ properties were all configured with the same
characteristics, as it is shown in the next Figure.
Figure 19: definition of the clutter classes properties in Wines for the 2d scenario
About the DEM, this is a map that represents the height of the terrain, so it
influences also mostly coverage issues, allowing to model in a more detailed
way phenomenon like multi-path propagation and shadowing (i.e. fading
caused by obstructing objects). The DEM used is the one defined in the
Database of the Radio planning Tool and it was imported also in Wines.
In this section an overview of the process followed in the Radio Planning Tool
(ATOLL) to generate a non-homogeneous traffic map is presented. The
complete procedure is described in the appendix 2.
Traffic data can be represented in Atoll in different ways. For the purpose of
importing the traffic data into Wines, two options are supported:
85
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Figure 20: Example Environment Codes definition in the Atoll Environment Traffic map
properties
• 0 no data
• 1 Urban
• 2 Rural
86
The approach followed to create a non-homogeneous traffic Map is
summarized in the following list (again, details are provided in the appendix
2.
1. Select one of the Environments (so the traffic map would be based just
in that environment)
2. Assign weights to the clutter classes associated to this Environment,
for instance as it was done in the following Table:
Default 0 0
Suburban: <6m 10 30
Suburban: 6-9m 10 30
Urban: 9-12m 15 50
Urban: 12-18m 15 50
Urban: 18-27m 15 50
City: 27-40m 20 60
City: >40m 20 60
Table 9: Clutter weights definition example inside a given Environment
87
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
3. The combined weights, together with the area size of each clutter class
determine the final number of users per each pixel. The way it is calculated is
explained in the appendix 2.
As it can be seen in the Figure, the maximum traffic density of this Map is 79
Erl/Km2. This can be scaled (down or up) to match with the defined traffic
densities in the Reference Table defined in the previous chapter.
88
Required Max Traffic Density = Maximum Traffic Map Density * scaling factor
The following Figure shows the same Traffic Map after applying the scaling
factor of 0.2531.
Figure 22: Traffic Matrix after applying the scaling factor 0.2531
For the simulation experiments, each service (FTP, Voice, WWW, Video-call)
was assigned to the same non-homogeneous traffic map and its maximum
levels were varied according to Table 4 of the previous chapter making use of
the corresponding scaling factors.
89
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Connected to this chapter, the main findings are also in the appendix 2 which
describes how to generate a traffic map based on clutter data and how to
export it from ATOLL radio planning tool to Wines Dynamic simulator.
Once the traffic map is defined in the simulator, we can scale easily the
densities according to our simulation plan, knowing that:
Where Maximum Traffic Map Density is defined in the Radio Planning Tool
and Scaling Factor is a parameter (from 0 to 1) defined in Wines to scale
traffic accordingly.
90
7. Simulation results first
Scenario (homogeneous)
The purpose of this chapter is to present the analysis of the simulation
results in the 1st simulation scenario described in chapter 5 and according to
the simulation plan already mentioned in that chapter.
91
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Figure 23: Curve Expert mathematical fits ranked according the correlation coefficient and
standard error.
92
Figure 24: Curve Expert Analysis feature X= f(y)
Sometimes, the assumed input traffic densities were not high enough to
produce the desired threshold levels. In those particular cases, and because
restrictions in time and processing power didn’t allow to make more
simulation with higher loads, different “cases” were proposed, i.e. different
interpolation models (mainly linear, quadratic and exponential fits because
they represent, for the range of simulated (positive) loads, the corresponding
non-negative increasing or decreasing functions as it is required) were tried
for each KPI Figure as a way to extrapolate results from the interpolation
curve fit. As the dynamics of the system are so complex and theoretical
models about what kind of behavior in mathematical terms can be expected
in those indicators are not easily available, there is no way to predict with
accuracy which is the right traffic density that produces the true threshold
93
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
level. Therefore, for those cases two or three fits are calculated and finally a
range of traffic densities (together with the analytical expression used to
calculate those values) is proposed according to these results. Verification
with values within these range are proposed for further simulation studies
where more time and computational resources can be allocated. All the
analyses were performed in Microsoft Excel and all input data, graphs and
formulas are given as an annex to this thesis. For the sake of brevity, only
Voice and Web service are detailed in this report and a summary of the main
findings is provided for FTP and Video call services, but the reader is invited
to check the Excel annexes with all the detailed service analysis results.
0.1200%
0.1000%
0.0800%
0.0400%
0.0200%
0.0000%
10.0000
20.0000
40.0000
80.0000
160.0000
94
dropped probability [%]
0.0006
0.0005
0.0004
%
20.0000
40.0000
80.0000
160.0000
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
As it can be seen in Figure 25 and 26, even for a relatively high traffic
density per square kilometer as 160 active users / Km2, the obtained
blocking and dropping Figures were still far from the target level (1% of
Blocking and Dropping respectively). The best fits tried for the blocking
probability were as follows:
Coefficient Data:
a= -2.62E+02
b= 3.20E+01
c= -9.56E-01
d= 7.48E-04
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.0002
b= 7.2446E-06
95
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
As it can be seen, the range [281,76 , 1411,970] is still very wide to try to
accurately define the traffic load that produces the 1% blocking, and
therefore more simulations need to be accomplished in further studies in
order to get more accurate results. Because of limitations in the hardware
(out of memory problems), simulations with traffic densities within this range
were not possible to verify. However, as a way of comparison, an
alternatively approach, the approach based on load factors to calculate cell
capacity mentioned in [Holma] was used to find the theoretical capacity of a
cell given a only-voice service. Working with the KPI threshold for uplink load
equal to 60% and the Eb/No value the same as in the simulations (6.91 dB)
and assuming i-ratio ( other cell interference / own cell interference) as 0.65
for a macro-cell environment ([Holma]), the number of users per cell (N) can
be calculated according to the following equation:
N = n UL / (Eb/No * υ * (1+i) / W / R) (7-1)
Where:
• n UL = uplink load factor (assumed to be 60%)
• υ = voice activity factor (assumed to be 0.5)
• W = chip rate (3.84 Mchips/sec)
• R = user data rate = 12.2 Kbps
Now, to compare this Figure with the number of users per cell according
to simulation results, first we have to calculate the cell area. The result of
this calculation is going to be used to convert the traffic densities given in
Erl/Km2 into number of users per cell in the remaining part of the
homogeneous analysis. The cell area is calculated as follows:
r = cell radius = inter-site distance / 3 = 900 m / 3 = 0.3 Km (7-2)
2
A = cell area (hexagonal cell) = K*r (7-3)
Cell area (hexagonal, 3 sectors per node) = 1.95 * (0.3)2 = 0.1755 Km2
Then, the number of users per cell is calculated according to the following
formula:
Number of users per cell = Round (users density [Erl (active users)/ Km2]
* cell area Size [Km2]) (7-4)
96
Where the round operator indicates approximation to the nearest integer
depending on the fractional part (above or equal to 0.5 it is approximated
up, less than 0.5 is approximated down).
Therefore, the lower limit obtained with the polynomial fit seems to be
more appropriate because it is in the same order of magnitude of the
theoretical result, and it is the Figure which is going to be selected as the
best estimate for the summary table.
Following a similar approach, the following values were found for the
dropping probability:
a= -1.19E-05
b= 1.46E+06
c= -4.35E-08
D= 3.40E-10
a= -0.0001
b= 3.29E-06
As it can be concluded from this section, dropped services occur with higher
traffic loads than when blocking occurs, which is well in line with the RRM
97
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The following Figures illustrate the mean and maximum channel elements
usage in Uplink and Downlink (target thresholds: 256 DL, 64 UL).
200,0000
150,0000 DL Channel Elements
usage [mean]
100,0000
DL Channel Elements
50,0000 usage [max]
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Figure 27: channel elements usage, Downlink direction, voice only service
160,0000
140,0000
120,0000 UL Channel Elements
100,0000 usage [mean]
80,0000
60,0000 UL Channel Elements
40,0000 usage [max]
20,0000
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Figure 28: channel elements usage, Uplink direction, voice only service
In this case, the Figure that reaches the 64 channel elements in Uplink is
within the interpolation range so the interpolation fits with similar correlation
coefficient produce a very similar Figure (therefore only the case with the
highest correlation coefficient is provided). In the case of Downlink,
98
extrapolation is used and therefore a range of values is given. The results are
summarized in the following tables.
Coefficient Data:
a= 17.6737
b= 0.8078
Coefficient Data:
a= 15.544373
b= 0.90265331
c= -0.0005
CE Uplink Target = 64 CE
a= 0.5444
b= 0.9027
c= -0.0005
99
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
1000,0000
800,0000
600,0000
Kbps
00
00
00
00
0
00
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
With the current version of the Wines Simulator, it was found that the Iub
measurements are only monitored as a mean value of the amount of data
present on the Iub traffic. As in the definition of KPIs the proposal was to
monitor the Iub utilization according to the number of reserved radio bearers
(as it is currently implemented in VF-NL), then the Max. PCR (Peak Cell Rate)
was taken into account as the Iub limit which indicates congestion in the Iub.
In the next version of Wines (to be released in October 2005) the Iub
utilization based on reservation will be implemented, but as far as this study
concern, the Iub threshold is set to the Max. PCR = 2786 cells/sec * 48
bytes/cell * 8 bits/byte = 1.07 Mbps, assuming 1 E1 link between each Node
B and the RNC [Iub-observability]. The obtained results are presented in the
following table.
100
Target for Iub DL throughput = 2786 cells/sec * 48 bytes/cell * 8 bits/byte = 1.07 Mbps
Coefficient Data:
a= 3
b= 6
c= -0.0031
Coefficient Data:
a= 15.5115
b= 5.0227
This gives:
Note that in the calculation we use 30Kbps and not 12.2 because we have to
take into account the coded channel (which includes the overhead caused by
coding and protection techniques) and not just the end-user data rate.
101
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
UL Load [%]
100,0000%
90,0000%
80,0000%
UL Load [%]
70,0000%
60,0000%
50,0000% UL Load [%]
40,0000%
30,0000%
20,0000%
10,0000%
0,0000%
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
For this case, it was also proposed in the KPIs definition to measure the
RTWP and see if its level exceeds the target (given by the two Ericsson
parameters) for a time higher than the hysteresis time (defined by the
Ericsson parameter iFHyst) . That is how Uplink load is determined in the real
system. For the simulation analysis however, it was difficult to try to average
these results because congestion happens at a different times in different
cells, it was decided to work with the approach presented in [Holma, Jabber]
which is to assume a maximum Noise Rise (in dB) and then calculate the
target UL Load in terms of the uplink load factor (nul) using the following
equation:
NR [dB] = - 10 * Log (1- nul ) ( 7-6)
Where:
Assuming a Noise Rise level of 4 dBs [Holma], we get nul = 0.6 (60%) which
will be our target level for the Uplink Load. The results of the interpolation
are mentioned in the following table.
102
Target Value =
Uplink Noise Rise 0.60
Coefficient Data:
a= 0.02258
b= 0.0059
Number of Users/cell 18
Quadratic Fit:
y=a+bx+cx^2
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.0240
b= 0.0079
c= -1.20E+02
Number of Users/cell 16
Table 15: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Uplink Noise Rise
congestion target = 60%
DL_TxPower [dBm]
38,5000
38,0000
Power [dBm]
37,5000
37,0000 DL_TxPower [dBm]
36,5000
36,0000
35,5000
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
103
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Coefficient Data:
a= 36.3788
b= 0.01140
Coefficient Data:
a= 363.747
b= 0.0116
c= -1.06E+01
104
7.1.1.6 Downlink Code Tree Usage
45,0000%
40,0000%
Code tree usage [%]
35,0000%
30,0000%
25,0000% DL_Code tree
20,0000% usage[%]
15,0000%
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
Target Level to trigger soft congestion mechanism = 60% (0.6 in linear scale)
a= 0.03858
b= 0.0023
a= 0.0320
b= 0.0026
c= -1.70E+01
105
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Next table presents the summary with the KPI’s ordered by the traffic
densities that reach first the target level (only considering the lower values
for the number of users of each KPI, i.e. taking the most restrictive
approach):
CE UL 64 13
UL Load 60% 16
Blocking prob 1% 49
CE DL 256 51
Dropping prob 1% 62
Table 18: Ordered KPI's, voice-only service
After the analysis of the Speech service, the analysis corresponding to this
Packet Switched service is presented next.
106
Blocking probability [%]
60,0000%
50,0000%
40,0000%
30,0000% Blocked services [%]
20,0000%
10,0000%
0,0000%
00
00
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
,9
,9
1,
3,
6,
12
25
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
100,0000%
80,0000%
60,0000%
%
0
00
00
00
90
70
62
25
49
,9
,9
1,
3,
6,
12
25
107
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
a) MMF Model:
y=(a*b+c*x^d)/(b+x^d)
a= -246.7280
b= 1.2024
c= 50.1275
d= 1.5127
a= -0.3167
b= 0.0975
Analyzing the results, very low Figures were found, near 1 user / cell. In
order to check the results, an analytical approach was used again, assuming
that the main limitation for packet-switched services is Downlink Power
consumption as it was shown in [Schneider-1]. According to [Holma], the
Downlink load factor is defined as:
ndl = Σ υj * (Eb/No)j / W/Rj [1-α+i], j=1 to N ( 7-7)
Where:
• N = number of users in the cell
• υj = service activity factor (for PS services assumed to be 1)
• W = chip rate = 3.84 Mchips/sec
• Rj = Data Rate of user j
• Eb/Noj = Eb/No for user j
• α = Downlink Orthogonality factor, for the formula, 1 means
maximum orthogonality (for the simulator 0.4 is used but 0
means in the simulator context full orthogonality, so for the
formula calculation a value of 0.6 is assumed)
• i = Other cell/ Own cell interference factor, assumed 0.65 for a
macro-cell scenario [Holma]
108
The formula reflects that in Downlink the Data Rate for each user and the
Eb/No are specific for each user’s location. To make it possible to have an
estimation of the number of users per cell, it will be assumed that Eb/No and
R is the same for all users (4.56 dBs and 384 Kbps respectively). With these
assumptions, replacing the values in the formula and setting the Downlink
Load Factor as the congestion threshold defined by the Ericsson parameters
(90% of the Downlink Power so assumed ndl =0.9), we found that the
number of users supported per cell is 3 and the corresponding traffic density
would be 17.09 Erl/Km2, both far from the obtained values of 0.58 users and
3.35 Erl/Km2. For admission control settings (ndl =0.75), we obtain 2 users
per cell and the corresponding traffic density of 11.39 Erl/ Km2.
Taking a deeper look at the simulation results, the cause of such low traffic
densities to reach the capacity threshold (and the corresponding number of
users per cell) was found: There is a parameter defined by Ericsson and
called sf8Adm, which controls the maximum number of connections per
spreading factor. As the current implementation of the simulator tries always
to get the maximum possible data rate per each service request (next
release it will include the “slow-start” approach mentioned in [Holma]), then
having the sf8Adm with the real setting in the network (sf8Adm=1) is the
main blocking cause (more than 80% of the times), as it can be checked in
the summary for each simulation, where the main reason for blocking found
was “DL SF8 usage limit exceeded” in all the simulations with the 5 different
traffic densities. Therefore, a new simulation series was programmed with
the sf8Adm with its maximum value (8) which means no restriction due to SF
8 usage. Next Figure and table shows the new results. Intuitively, due to the
simulation implementation already mentioned, it is expected that the traffic
density that reaches the 1% blocking would be reached earlier than in the
case of the analytical approach, as currently there is no way to simulate the
slow-start mechanism.
14.0000%
12.0000%
10.0000%
8.0000% Blocked probability
6.0000% [%]
4.0000%
2.0000%
0.0000%
1.6200
3.2500
6.4900
12.9900
25.9700
109
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
a= 0.0047
b= -0.0027
c= 0.0003
a= 0.0023
b= -0.0015
c= 0.0002
d= 3.13E-06
As it can be seen, the number of users and traffic densities obtained are now
quite close to the Figures obtained in analytical way for the admission control
settings (ndl =0.75). Checking also the main blocking reason, this is in most
of the cases, “Downlink Transmit Power Exceeded”. The errors due to
timeout were discarded as it was discovered by Vodafone D2 that the
timeout implementation does not work correctly and it will be replaced during
the next Version of WiNeS.
About the dropping probability, it was found in the simulation that when
using Ericsson P3.0 RRM algorithm, there is no dropping of PS services
because the UE’s are normally switched to the FACH channel instead of being
dropped. Vodafone D2 is currently clarifying if this handling is equal to the
real handling in Ericsson hardware, because so far it is not clear if Ericsson
supports data transmissions on the FACH.
The following Figures illustrate the mean and maximum channel elements
usage in Uplink and Downlink (target thresholds: 256 DL, 64 UL).
110
DL Channel Elements usage [mean, max]
DL channel elements
80,0000
70,0000 DL Channel
60,0000 Elements usage
50,0000 [mean]
40,0000
30,0000 DL Channel
20,0000 Elements usage
10,0000 [max]
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
,9
,9
1,
3,
6,
12
25
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
60,0000
UL Channel
50,0000
Elements usage
40,0000
[mean]
30,0000
UL Channel
20,0000
Elements usage
10,0000
[max]
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
,9
,9
1,
3,
6,
12
25
a) Downlink
a= 19.438376
b= 1.3701932
A= 17.966051
B= 1.774063
C= -0.01442546
111
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
b) Uplink
A= 1.1074
B= 1.5842
C= -0.0108
A= 2.2047
B= 1.2832
In the Figures 36 and 37, we can appreciate a lower channel element usage,
both in UL and DL regarding the same usage in the voice service. This is
because a low number of users per cell is supported, although it has to be
taken into account that the number of channel elements used in a 384 Kbps
DL connection regarding the number of channel elements used in a speech
connection has a relation 8:1 (for UL this relation is 2:1). But even with that
relationship, the maximum number of users times the channel elements per
user connection in UL or DL, which would be an estimation of the number of
CE is given by 3 * 8 = 24 CE in DL for the web service whereas for the voice
service is given by 47 * 1 = 47 CE in DL, which is greater.
112
7.1.2.3 Downlink Iub usage
1200,0000
1000,0000
800,0000
Kbps
00
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
,9
,9
1,
3,
6,
12
25
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Target for Iub DL throughput = 2786 cells/sec * 48 bytes/cell * 8 bits/byte = 1.07 Mbps
Coefficient Data:
a= 137.3714
b= 33.6504
113
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
UL Load [%]
3.0000%
Uplink Load [%]
2.5000%
2.0000%
1.5000% UL Load [%]
1.0000%
0.5000%
0.0000%
0
00
00
00
90
70
62
25
49
.9
.9
1.
3.
6.
12
25
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Taking a look at the simulation results, we can clearly see that UL load
seems not to be a problem for the Web Service. Even with the highest
simulated load for Web Service (25.97 Erl/Km2), the Uplink load is about
6%, quite far away from the target (60%). In these conditions, the
different fits produce very different results, but for the purpose of this
analysis the most restrictive setting among linear, quadratic and
exponential fit is presented in the next table.
Uplink Load
Exponential Fit: y=ae^(bx)
Coefficient Data:
a= 0.005193252
b= 0.065165121
Value at Y=60% (0.6) 72.8858 Erl/Km^2
Number of users per cell 13
Table 23: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only service,
uplink load target = 60 %
114
7.1.2.5 Downlink Transmitted Power
DL_TxPower [dBm]
38,0000
37,8000
37,6000
37,4000
Power [dBm]
37,2000
37,0000
36,8000 DL_TxPower [dBm]
36,6000
36,4000
36,2000
36,0000
35,8000
00
00
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
,9
,9
1,
3,
6,
12
25
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
The Downlink transmitted power usage shows the same behavior trend as
in the case of voice-only usage, although the levels are lower. This can be
also due to the smaller number of Web users per cell. As the target value
it is not present in the interpolation range, three estimated values are
presented in the next table using extrapolation with the obtained
analytical expressions.
Downlink Transmitted
Power
a= 36.528181
b= 0.047020985
a= 36.5313
b= 0.0013
115
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Quadratic Fit:
y=a+bx+cx^2
a= 36.504102
b= 0.0536
c= -0.0002
25.0000%
Code tree usage [%]
20.0000%
15.0000%
DL_Code tree usage[%]
10.0000%
5.0000%
0.0000%
6.4900 12.9900 25.9700
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
According to the Figure, the code tree usage is lower than the code tree
usage for voice, but this has to do also with the current implementation of
the simulator that doesn’t model the slow-start mechanism (i.e. PS
services start with a data rate of 64 Kbps and as soon as there is capacity
available in the cell they upgrade their data rate with a smaller spreading
factor), therefore in a real-network the expected code tree usage would
be higher than the value obtained in the simulations. It is proposed to try
the same feature once the simulator includes the slow-start mechanism in
its internal implementation. In the Figure, only the part corresponding to
the range [6.49, 25.97] is presented due to no output data was obtained
for DL Code Tree usage with the first two traffic densities. The
corresponding fit for the range presented is summarized below.
116
DL Code Tree usage target =60%
Linear Fit: y=a+bx
Coefficient Data:
a= 0.043132
b= 0.006364
Value at Y=60% (0.6) 87.49 Erl/Km^2
Number of users per cell 16
Table 25: Estimation of the users per cell according to the simulation output, Web-only service,
DL code tree usage target = 60%
7.1.2.7 Throughput
350.0000
300.0000
250.0000
Kbps
200.0000
DL Throughput
150.0000
100.0000
50.0000
0.0000
1.6200 6.4900 12.9900 25.9700
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
400.0000
300.0000
Kbps
200.0000
100.0000
DL Throughput
0.0000
1.6200 6.4900 12.9900 25.9700
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
117
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Indoor users
Outdoor users
118
7.1.2.8 Summary of Web service
Next table presents the summary of the Web Service with the KPI’s ordered
by the traffic densities which reach first their target level:
Blocking 1% 2
prob
CE UL 64 8
DL 100 kbps 12
throughput
(outdoor)
UL Load 60% 13
DL code 60% 16
tree
CE DL 256 30
Table 27: Ordered KPI's, Web-only service
In the previous table, we can see that Blocking Probability is the first KPI to
reach the target. Theoretically, allowing a higher Blocking Probability for PS
services would increase the capacity of the cell and it would be possible to
allow more blocking for the PS services, given the more flexible
characteristics of the packet switched services to tolerate a higher BLER
compared with the circuit switched services. In the second and third place we
can observe that the capacity for the Web Service is now Downlink limited
(Iub, DL power) rather than Uplink limited as in the Voice Service.
119
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
3.0000%
2.5000%
2.0000%
Blocking probability
1.5000%
[%]
1.0000%
0.5000%
0.0000%
0.3900 0.7800 1.5600 3.1200 6.2300
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Blocking probability
Target threshold = 1%
Coefficient Data:
a= 0.001576177
b= -0.002396161
c= 0.001062297
120
dropped services [%]
0,6000%
0,5000%
0,4000%
%
Dropping probability
Target threshold = 1%
Coefficient Data:
a= 0.0004
b= -0.0008
c= 0.0003
The FTP service has the lowest number of users per cell and this can be
explained due to its intensive usage of the air interface. The corresponding
traffic model is based on the WWW traffic model; however it considers just
one “big” packet call, therefore the service remains mostly making usage of
the dedicated channels (DCH) although it can be Down-switched in case of
congestion. For the WWW however, in low activity periods the call is “handed
over” to the forward access channel. This also has an influence on the user
121
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
120,0000
DL channel elements
100,0000 DL Channel
Elements usage
80,0000
[mean]
60,0000
DL Channel
40,0000
Elements usage
20,0000 [max]
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
39
78
56
12
23
0,
0,
1,
3,
6,
80,0000
UL channel elements
70,0000
UL Channel
60,0000
Elements usage
50,0000
[mean]
40,0000
30,0000 UL Channel
Elements usage
20,0000
[max]
10,0000
0,0000
0,3900 0,7800 1,5600 3,1200 6,2300
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
122
Target levels: 64 CE UL 256 DL
a) Downlink
a= 15.5037
b= 7.0251
b) Uplink
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.0530
b= 5
c= 0.1415
According to the Figures 46 and 47, the mean number of Downlink channel
elements for the maximum FTP traffic density is approximately in the same
order of magnitude of the mean number of Downlink channel elements for
the maximum Web traffic density (59 and 54 respectively). For the uplink
however, the supported number of users per cell is lower than in the case of
the Web service and this can be explained by the channel switching methods
applied to one and another service (dedicated to dedicated channel switching
in FTP services and dedicated to dedicated and dedicated to FACH in Web
services).
123
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
1400,0000
1200,0000
1000,0000
Kbps
800,0000
Iub traffic [DL]
600,0000
400,0000
200,0000
0,0000
0,3900 0,7800 1,5600 3,1200 6,2300
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Target for Iub DL throughput = 2786 cells/sec * 48 bytes/cell * 8 bits/byte = 1,07 Mbps
Coefficient Data:
a= 34,4036
b= 204,8369
According to Figure 48 and table 31, again a lower traffic density causes
congestion in the DL, the obtained results suggest that near 1 Erlang per cell
is enough to reach the congestion in the Iub interface (maximum channel
utilization).
124
7.1.3.4 Uplink Load
UL Load [%]
12,0000%
10,0000%
8,0000%
UL load [%]
4,0000%
2,0000%
0,0000%
0,3900 0,7800 1,5600 3,1200 6,2300
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.0012
b= 0.01575
c= 0.0001
125
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
DL_TxPower [dBm]
39,0000
38,5000
38,0000
Power [dBm]
37,5000
37,0000 DL_TxPower [dBm]
36,5000
36,0000
35,5000
35,0000
0,3900 0,7800 1,5600 3,1200 6,2300
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
Coefficient Data:
a= 36
b= 0.3438
The Downlink transmitted power is, in terms of blocking reason, the most
frequent one found in the simulation results for the FTP service. This can be
expected as the asymmetrical demand of the current services makes the
Downlink to consume more radio resources than the Uplink counterpart. The
situation can be different for symmetric services (Speech, Video telephony)
where the UL and DL load is more balanced.
126
7.1.3.6 Downlink Code Tree Usage
30,0000%
25,0000%
Code tree usage [%]
20,0000%
DL_Code tree
15,0000%
usage[%]
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
0,3900 0,7800 1,5600 3,1200 6,2300
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
Target Level to trigger soft congestion mechanism = 60% (0.6 in linear scale)
a= 0.03295
b= 0.03975
Downlink code tree usage is the second most frequent blocking reason and
this can be explained by the higher demand of code resources made by the
PS services, compared with the CS services where this issue is not very
problematic.
127
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
7.1.3.7 Throughput
a) Indoor users
Coefficient Data:
a= 238
b= -0.027463913
b) outdoor users
Coefficient Data:
a= 318
b= -0.1038
According to the previous table, we can see less supported users per cell
(near 2) than in the case of Web Service (between 3 and 9), and again these
differences can be attributed to the type of channel switching performed on
each service.
In the next table, a summary with the KPI’s ordered by the number of users
that reaches first the target level is provided. In the case of KPIs with the
same number of users, the order has been set according to the
corresponding traffic density levels (without truncation).
128
KPI Target No. Traffic
Level users to Density
reach Level
the
target
Blocking 1% 1 4.1627
prob
Dropped 1% 1 8.1450
prob
CE UL 64 2 9.83
CE DL 256 6 34.234
Table 36: Ordered KPI's, FTP-only service
As in the Web Service, the capacity is Downlink-limited for the FTP service.
After blocking probability, Iub DL utilization and DL power are the main
limiting factors. Uplink load has definitely not the significance that it has in
the case of circuit switched services (e.g. voice), as it can be also concluded
from the previous table. And the CE DL in the last place indicates that with
the current provisioning of hardware in Downlink Direction (Channel
Elements) there are no hardware-related capacity problems. However Uplink
CE occupies an intermediate position and given that in the voice service turns
out to be one of the main limiting factors, special attention shall be given to
the number of channel elements in uplink. Simulations testing Node Bs with
more than 64 CE in UL are proposed for further studies.
129
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Next section presents the analysis of the experiments performed with the
video call service (Circuit Switched service).
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.0031
b= 0.0004
The average number of users per cell obtained was around 6 users per
cell which is higher than the expected theoretical value of 4 assuming
again Uplink load factor of 0.6 and applying the analytical approach.
About the dropping probability, some inconsistencies were found in the
outcomes so no analysis was performed with this data.
The best fit that was found suggest an average number of users to reach
the Downlink Iub target of 6 users/cell, which was more or less the level
found to reach the target blocking in the air interface, then it seems to be
a strong relationship between the target for blocking and the target to
produce congestion in the Iub.
130
7.1.4.4 Uplink Load
UL Load [%]
60,0000%
50,0000%
UL Load [%]
40,0000%
30,0000% UL Load [%]
20,0000%
10,0000%
0,0000%
0,9700 1,9500 3,9000 7,7900 15,5800
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
a= -0.0051
b= 0.0343
a= -0.0094
b= 0.0362
c= -0.0001
131
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
According to the Figure and table shown above, Uplink Load is again, as in
the case of speech, the most important capacity limiting factor, this can
be observed because it is the factor that according to the number of
users, reaches the target value first. The extrapolation results give very
close results to each other because the highest traffic density used was
quite close to produce the 60% uplink load target.
a= 36,398187
b= 0.11769338
Coefficient Data:
a= 36.4057
b= 0.0031
Downlink transmitted power was another reason found for blocking attempts,
although the number of users to reach the target threshold is still higher than
in the case of Uplink Load. This is a very specific characteristic in CS services,
as for PS services according to the simulation results the Downlink
Transmitted power is the main capacity limitation.
The code tree utilization with the proposed traffic densities is still very low
(around 17% with the highest considered traffic density) compared with the
target of 60%, therefore again it seems not to be a very big problem. No
blockings were registered because of Downlink Codes shortage.
132
7.1.4.7 Summary of video-call service
In the next table, a summary with the KPI’s ordered by the number of users
that reaches first the target level is provided. In the case of KPIs with the
same number of users, the order has been set according to the
corresponding traffic density levels (without truncation).
19.55
DL power 38.7 3
dBm
27.1968
DL code 60% 5
tree
32
Iub 1070 6
Kbps
32.19
Blocking 1% 6
prob.
49.7967
CE DL 256 9
Comparing this table with the table for Voice only service, we can appreciate
that in both Video call and Voice service, UL Load is the main capacity
limiting factor and then both circuit switched services are mainly uplink
limited. DL channel elements are again at the bottom of the list, indicating
that in both services the main limitation is not the hard resources but the
interference limited resources (soft resources). There were some
inconsistencies however with the dropping probability results and therefore it
is proposed to verify them with new simulations.
133
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
According to the analysis performed over the results, the capacity limiting
factors for the different services are ordered according to the traffic density
level that reaches first the target threshold, as follows:
CE UL UL Load
UL Load CE UL
DL power DL power
CE DL CE DL
Besides the clear fact that the capacity is uplink limited for both services, DL
Power must be also considered a critical resource for circuit switched services
(is in the 3rd place for both Voice and Video call). The critical factors with
middle importance are Iub Downlink utilization and DL code Tree utilization.
The less critical factors according to the results are DL Channel Elements
(therefore the capacity is “soft” limited rather than “hard” limited for CS
services) and Dropped Probability, although for video-call service more
experiments are required to verify this.
134
7.1.5.2 Packet-Switched Services:
DL Iub DL Iub
DL power DL power
Dropping prob. CE UL
CE UL DL throughput
(outdoor)
throughput UL Load
UL Load CE DL
CE DL Dropping prob.
Table 42: Comparison Limiting factors, PS services, single-service experiments, homogeneous
scenarios
Apart from the clear difference regarding CS services about the main
capacity limitation factors in Downlink instead of Uplink direction (something
that was expected because of the higher data rates in Downlink for the PS
services, which indeed consume more radio resources than their
corresponding resources in Uplink Direction), we can notice additionally that
for both kinds of services (CS, PS) the limitation is not mainly the “hard” but
the “soft” resources , with exception of the Uplink Channel Elements usage
which is an important limiting factor for both type of services.
Between the two simulated PS services, the main difference is the place of
the Dropping Probability, in the Web Service no dropping probability was
found with the simulated traffic loads (and therefore no estimation was
possible for the load that reaches the 1% threshold); however, as it was
mentioned before, this is in line with the RRM channel switching algorithms
(switching from DCH to FACH), when the Web users can still keep the
connection with data rates of 32 Kbps without been dropped by the system,
as it happens with the FTP users that keep using mostly the DCH channels.
However, in order to get more realistic results, new simulations have to be
performed when the simulator includes the slow start mechanism which has
a direct impact in the blocking and dropping probabilities.
135
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Where:
BHCA = Busy Hour call attempts, which represents the number of calls per
user (offered traffic per user) in the busy hour. This quantity, as defined in
[Ericsson-tutorial] is equivalent to:
BHCA = 3600 * λ (7-9)
On the other hand, the Offered Poisson Traffic can be defined as:
A [Erlangs] = λ / µ (7-10)
Where µ = service rate = 1/ E[s], where E[s] is the mean expected service
time. Therefore:
A = λ * E [s] ( 7-11)
In this case, A would represent the offered traffic by each user. Putting
everything together:
But:
136
ODV (offered traffic density) in Erlangs/Km2 = A * service penetration/Km2 *
potential users / Km2 = active users/ Km2 (7-14)
Finally,
ODV = 3600 * Offered Traffic Density * Service throughput * υ (7-15)
υ was defined as 0.5 in the case of voice and 1 for all other services, and the
Service throughput was defined averaging the throughput of the indoor and
outdoor users obtained in the simulation results. The next table shows the
calculations performed and the summary of ODV Figures to be analyzed (X-
axis of the graphs of KPI vs. ODV).
137
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Offered Data
Volume
[Mbit/busy
Experiment Service Traffic density [Erl/Km^2] Service Bandwidth (DL) [Mbit] = BW [Kbps]/1000 Activity Factor hour/Km^2]
138
4 Speech 80 0.0122 0.5 1756.8
139
ODV [Mbit/busy hour /
Experiment Km^2]
1 2617.691861
2 4320.28698
3 7195.872463
4 9881.103646
5 11776.67832
Table 44: Summary table with the ODV Figures to be used for the analysis
60.0000%
50.0000%
40.0000%
Blocked
30.0000%
services [%]
20.0000%
10.0000%
0.0000%
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Target threshold = 1%
a= 2568.9699
b= -1608.3547
c= 0.0500
141
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Mbit/hour/cel
ODV per cell per hour 926.2456 l
257.2904
As the target of 1% was reached within the interpolation range, only the
best fit in terms of the correlation coefficient is presented. Then, we
obtain the 1% blocking with the offered data volume of 5279.600
Mbit/hour/Km2. To be able to analyze the performance per cell, we have
to convert this Figure, and the way to do it was to take into account that
the cell area is 0.1755 Km2, so in 1 Km2 there are approximately 5.7 cells.
Applying this conversion factor we obtained the ODV per cell per hour,
and dividing it by 3600 seconds/hour and multiplying by 1000 we finally
got the Offered Data Volume in Kbps/cell. Dividing this value with the
mean value of the RLC layer performance “DL Transmission Data Rate
[kbps]” for each service, we could have a rough estimate of the number of
users supported by the cell per each service:
Voice 11,97 22
Video-call 63,65 4
Table 46: Estimation of the supported number of users per service
142
dropped services [%]
10.000000%
8.000000%
% 6.000000%
4.000000% dropped services [%]
2.000000%
0.000000%
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Offered Data Volume [Mbit/busy
hour/Km^2]
Coefficient Data:
a= 10.937.20
b= -1.168.57
For the dropped services, we can see that the Load required to reach the
target is higher (almost twice as much) than in the case of blocking
probabilities. This goes in line with the behavior defined in the Ericsson
RRM Algorithms were dropping calls is the last option at all while soft
blocking of non-guaranteed connections (i.e. data connections) is the first
option to free radio resources in case of congestion.
143
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
200.0000 DL Channel
150.0000 Elements usage
[mean]
100.0000
DL Channel
50.0000
Elements usage
0.0000 [max]
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Offered Data Volume
[Mbit/busy hour/Km^2]
Figure 55: Channel Elements usage service mix, Downlink target 256
180.0000
UL channel elements
160.0000
140.0000 UL Channel
120.0000 Elements usage
100.0000 [mean]
80.0000 UL Channel
60.0000
Elements usage
40.0000
[max]
20.0000
0.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
In both graphs, we see that the target thresholds (256 CE in Downlink and
64 CE in UL) were reached within the interpolation range. Therefore, only
the best fit for both cases (using the mean values as a data set) are
presented in the next table.
144
Downlink Channel Elements (target 256)
Coefficient Data:
a= 18.3079
b= 5.11E-03
c= 7.27E-07
Coefficient Data:
a= 12.8075
b= 0.0002
145
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
2000.0000
1800.0000
1600.0000
1400.0000
1200.0000
Kbps
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
Offered Data Volume [Mbit/busy
hour/Km^2]
For this analysis, only a data set with 4 points was considered as the
corresponding simulation with the highest traffic density level presented
errors in the results. However, the Iub target is reached within the 4
selected points. The result of the analysis with the best fit is presented in
the next table.
Coefficient Data:
a= -132.5321
b= 0.1951
Therefore, Iub downlink utilization, so far, is the second factor after the
blocking target that is reached first.
146
7.2.4 Uplink Load
UL Load [%]
100.0000%
90.0000%
Noise Rise [%]
80.0000%
70.0000%
60.0000%
50.0000% UL Load [%]
40.0000%
30.0000%
20.0000%
10.0000%
0.0000%
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Offered Data Volume [Mbit/busy hour/Km^2]
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.1363
b= 8.39E-05
c= 8.16E-10
According to the graph we clearly see that the threshold level for soft
congestion triggering (60% Uplink load) is reached within the interpolation
range, therefore only the best fit is provided. Taking a look at the results,
we see that so far Uplink load is, after Dropping probability, the least
frequent reached KPI threshold.
147
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
DL_TxPower [dBm]
43.0000
42.0000
Power [dBm]
41.0000
40.0000
39.0000 DL_TxPower [dBm]
38.0000
37.0000
36.0000
35.0000
34.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Offered Data Volume [Mbit/busy
hour/Km^2]
Coefficient Data:
a= 3.68
b= -1.97E-05
c= 3.75E-08
According to the Figure 60, again the target threshold level (38.7 dBm) is
reached within the interpolation range, therefore only the best fit is
presented. The Downlink transmitted power, which was the main limiting
factor especially for Data Services in the single-service simulations, now it
is still important but in the place after Downlink Channel Elements
utilization according to the simulation results.
148
7.2.6 Downlink Code Tree Usage
0.6000
Code tree usage [%]
0.5000
0.4000
0.3000 DL_Code tree
usage[%]
0.2000
0.1000
0.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Offered Data Volume [Mbit/busy hour/Km^2]
Target Level to trigger soft congestion mechanism = 60% (0.6 in linear scale)
Coefficient Data:
a= 0.009300566
b= 4.19E-05
c= 8.67E-10
In this experiment, the last simulation presented some errors so the value
corresponding to the highest load had to be discarded and an
extrapolation is provided based on the interpolation of the first four points
of the data set. According to the best fit, the Downlink code tree usage
would be, with the assumed traffic densities, the less important capacity
limiting factor. Next table shows the order of capacity factors according to
the number of supported users, i.e. according to the Figure ODV
149
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Kbps/cell. This order would be the order of occurrence of the factors in the
simulated scenario, ordered for lowest ODV Figure (the one that reaches
first the target level) to highest ODV.
The first result is not surprising, as there are many sources that causes
blocking, not only to new calls but also is possible to have some blocking
level for hand-over calls, although the priority to block calls is given to the
non-guaranteed, non-handover calls according to Ericsson RRM
algorithms. The most frequent blocking reasons that were found are as
follows:
Given the presence of Data Services and given that in the conversion of
units the service that presents major contribution in the calculated ODV is
the web service, the Downlink Load, more than the Uplink, is expected to
be one of the most important capacity limitations. In fact, no call blocked
or dropped due to the Uplink load was registered in the simulation output.
150
The surprise was to see the Downlink Code Usage as one of the last
factors. However in this case we must remember that the last part
presented an error so the extrapolation performed may not be accurate.
Simulations with higher loads than the assumed ones are proposed in
order to verify the number for Downlink Code usage.
400.0000
350.0000
300.0000
250.0000
Kbps
200.0000 DL Throughput
150.0000
100.0000
50.0000
0.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
300.0000
250.0000
200.0000
Kbps
150.0000 DL Throughput
100.0000
50.0000
0.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
151
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
300.0000
250.0000
200.0000
Kbps
150.0000 DL Throughput
100.0000
50.0000
0.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
Offered Data Volume [Mbit/busy
hour/Km^2]
250.0000
200.0000
Kbps
150.0000
100.0000 DL Throughput
50.0000
0.0000
2617.6919
4320.2870
7195.8725
9881.1036
11776.6783
The critical value of 100 Kbps is always reached for any of the data
services, between 9881 and 11776 Mbit/hour/Km^2
The performance, in terms of throughput of the indoor and outdoor
users of the respective users is almost equivalent; this shows then
that the 18 additional dBs for the indoor users has more impact on
coverage rather than on capacity.
152
Surprisingly, the performance of the FTP service was lower than the
performance (in Kbps) of the Web service for the given scenario.
This is something that needs to be verified with more simulations in
a further study.
The Power Study, with the setup for the homogeneous scenario defined in
Chapter 5, was performed checking the following three Handover
performance indicators. The definition of them is presented here as they
are defined in [WinesTechRef]:
• Active Set Size [num] : The number of active cells, i.e. the
number of soft handover branches for the referred UE.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Next Figures show the active set size spatial distribution in the analysis
area (Handover Zones are those with an active size bigger than 1) and the
corresponding histogram. The setup of the experiment was already
described in chapter 5 where details about this experiment and its
purpose can be found.
154
Taking a look at the first two graphs, we can see that the active set size
and hand-over areas are symmetrically distributed over all the cells in the
analysis area and the hand-over zones (zones in green and red in the first
zone) are almost equally defined for each cell. Taking a look at the
histogram we can also determine that the soft handover probability is
around 30% (active set size 2 and 3). Thus, so far the system seems to
have almost homogeneously distributed handover zones, even though the
assumed downlink losses were different among some sites.
The histogram in the previous Figure shows that in nearly 55% of the
cases, there is no pilot pollution at all, and around 30% has 1 pilot and
the rest has up to 3 pilots. According to [Castro], more than 4 pilots with
nearly equal strength start to cause serious problems in the corresponding
area, then according to the histogram the situation is actually quite good
in terms of pilot pollution as nearly 80% there is 1 pilot or not even pilot
pollution at all.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The previous Figure shows the Blocked soft hand over requests when
trying to add a new link and the main reason. In this case, main reasons,
in order, were Downlink Transmit Power level exceeded, Downlink
congestion and DL ASE usage limited exceed.
156
Figure 70: Active set size (histogram)
157
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Comparing this Figure with the one in Germany, there is a very small
difference in the frequency of no-pollution at all (0.55 vs 0.52), while the
distribution of 1, 2 and 3 pilots is more or less equivalent. That means
that with the assumed level of link losses (up to 4 dBs), there is no big
difference between both settings (Netherlands vs. Germany).
Again, the higher number of Blocking was produced between cells 5 and
10. The main reason was “DL transmit power limit exceeded (cell)”.
The main concussion of this study after the comparison of all the graphs
corresponding to the two different settings, is that in the assumed
(symmetric and homogeneous) scenario, with the assumed levels of link
losses (up to 4 dB) there are no significant differences between the PCICH
power rule of The Netherlands and the PCICH power rule of Germany.
Further conclusions can be drawn once the non homogeneous scenario is
analyzed.
In this study, one has to create the same Figures per voice service (main
service) and per traffic mix of the third column of the Table 4, but now
with a vehicular mobility profile. Then, one has to compare the results
with the pedestrian profile. The study is aimed to evaluate the impact of
the mobility in the soft-handover algorithm. Other types of handover
(inter-frequency, inter-RAT) are not going to be analyzed.
158
The expected behavior, as mentioned in [Holma2004] is that when mobile
stations are moving at vehicular level (e.g. 50 Km/h), fewer can be
served, the throughput is lower and the resulting loading is higher
than when mobile stations are moving at 3 km/h. However, in coverage
terms, the faster-moving mobile stations experience better quality
than the slow-moving ones, because for the latter headroom is needed in
the mobile transmission power to be able to maintain the fast power
control [Holma].
According with the available data from the first 4 traffic densities
simulated, there is no blocking or dropping up to 80 Erl/Km2. With the
pedestrian profile, no blocking or dropping was experienced up to that
traffic density level, and as it was not possible to obtain the simulation for
the 160 Erl/ Km2 vehicular voice users, we cannot make further
conclusions other than the performance, in terms of blocking and
dropping, is similar for both mobility profiles up to 80 Erl/Km2 of voice
service users.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
70,00%
60,00%
50,00%
UL Noise Rise [%]
vehicular
40,00%
UL Noise Rise [%]
pedestrian
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
10 20 40 80 Traffic De nsity [Erl / Km^2]
Figure 73: comparison of Uplink Load, vehicular and pedestrian mobility profile
In the previous Figure we can clearly see the reduction of capacity per cell
when using a vehicular mobility profile. For traffic densities lower than 20
Erl/Km2 the performance is more or less similar, but the difference
becomes much larger with higher traffic densities. With the highest traffic
density simulated, there is a difference of almost 15% in Uplink Load
between the two profiles. Then the theoretical expected result is
confirmed with the simulation results.
160
7.4.3 Downlink Power usage (Voice service)
37,6000
37,4000
37,2000
Power level [dBm]
36,4000
36,2000
36,0000
10,0000 20,0000 40,0000 80,0000
Traffic Density [Er;/Km^2]
Figure 74: comparison of Downlink Load, vehicular and pedestrian mobility profile
300,0000
Downlink Throughput [Kbps]
250,0000
200,0000
DL Throughput
(vehicular)
150,0000
DL Throughput
(pedestrian)
100,0000
50,0000
0,0000
12,99 25,97
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
traffic densities, around 12 to 18% of difference. The data for indoor users
was discarded because of some inconsistencies but it is proposed to
perform a new simulation series with both UE types and more traffic
densities in order to have a better impression of the throughput
difference. Then, for the range of simulated traffic densities, we confirm
the theoretical result presented in [Holma] about lower throughput for the
vehicular user.
162
7.5 Summary of chapter 7
Iub utilization: The target level was reached within the simulation range
of traffic densities. For the simulation series, Iub utilization is the 2nd KPI
that is reached first in its target level. 1 E1 circuit was assumed to make
the calculations.
Downlink Power usage: the usage was slightly higher for CS instead of
PS services for the range of simulated traffic densities.
Code Tree usage (DL): It is not very critical for CS services according to
the simulation results.
The main findings for packet switched-only services (from the web service
results) were as follows:
Iub utilization: the target utilization is reached with about 2.5 users (5
users with an activity of 50%)
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Uplink load: Very low levels obtained with the simulated traffic densities.
Experiments with higher loads are proposed in order to reach further
conclusions.
Code Tree usage (DL): It was lower for PS rather than for CS
Throughput: mean value of around 150 Kbps for the range of input
traffic densities.
The main results (i.e. KPI ordered by occurrence of its target level) are
summarized in the next table:
Table 54: List of KPIs organized by order of occurrence of their target levels
The main concussion of this study after the comparison of all the graphs,
is that in the assumed (symmetric and homogeneous) scenario, with the
assumed levels of link losses (up to 4 dB) there are not significant
differences between the PCICH power rule of The Netherlands and the
PCICH power rule of Germany.
164
7.5.4 Mobility study
It was verified through simulations that when mobile stations are moving
at vehicular level (e.g. 50 Km/h), fewer users can be served, the
throughput is lower and the resulting loading is higher than when
mobile stations are moving at 3 km/h.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
166
different voice traffic densities. The following graphs illustrate the results
for the maximum of those densities (160 Erl/Km2).
6 1
0,9
5
0,8
0,7
4
0,6
Count
count
3 0,5
cum ulative dis tribution function
0,4
2
0,3
0,2
1
0,1
0 0
35,00
35,35
35,7
36,05
36,4
36,75
37,1
37,45
37,8
38,15
38,5
38,85
39,2
39,55
39,9
40,25
40,6
40,95
41,3
41,65
42
Dow nlink Pow er [dBm]
Figure 76: Histogram of the Downlink Transmitted Power per cell, non homogeneous
scenario, 160 Erl/Km2 Voice only users
7 1
0,9
6
0,8
5 0,7
4 0,6
count
0,5
3 0,4
2 0,3
0,2
1
0,1
0 0
0,00%
4,30%
8,60%
12,90%
17,20%
21,50%
25,80%
30,10%
34,40%
38,70%
43,00%
47,30%
51,60%
55,90%
60,20%
64,50%
68,80%
73,10%
77,40%
81,70%
86,00%
Count
cum ulative dis tribution function
Figure 77: Histogram of the Uplink per cell, non homogeneous scenario, 160 Erl/Km2 Voice
only users
The next table presents the simulation results of the Downlink Transmitted
Power in each one of the cells within the analysis area, together with the
calculation results of the average and standard deviation of this data set.
167
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
168
U052012 39.52
U052013 39.42
average: 38.80
Std. dev: 1.7321
Table 55: Downlink Transmitted Power levels per cell, non homogeneous scenario
According to what we can see in the Figure 76, nearly 70% of the cells are
in congestion situation (in other words, nearly 30% of the cells have a
power levels below 37.8 dBm which is the congestion limit), so the mean
value of 38.80 dBm and the standard deviation of 1.7321 (from the table
53) are just a rough estimate of the real power levels per cell. We have to
take into account this restriction when performing a complete analysis (for
instance in a concrete area that requires optimization), because with our
mean value assumption we are assuming that for this particular traffic
density, all the cells are in congestion, when the true situation is that
around 70% are in this situation and 30% are not, but this is only possible
to determine only when taking a detailed look at the cumulative
distribution function of each KPI.
The same situation can be observed with the uplink load illustrated in
Figure 77, where near 60% of all the cells have an uplink level below the
target uplink load level (60% of load in the X-axis). When we take the
average Uplink Load (46.73%) we are assuming that the 100% are not in
Uplink load situation but the true situation is that near 40% of the cells
are above the (soft) congestion limit.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
a= 0.0068
b= -0.00049
c= 5.51E-06
Coefficient Data:
a= -0.0145
b= 0.0004
The “real” network experienced higher blocking than the ideal scenario.
The cell layout has strong influence in the handover performance as in this
case the layout is not perfectly hexagonal; indeed higher dropping
probability was experienced because of the blocked radio link additions
(handover event 1A).
The traffic density for the dropping probability target produced around 54
users per cell which is close to the lowest limit obtained in the
homogeneous scenario (61). Besides, according to the RRM expected
behavior, dropping always happens after blocking has been experienced,
so the results are in line with this. However, comparing traffic densities
between both scenarios, the traffic densities to reach the target blocking
and dropping levels are lower in the non-homogeneous case. Making the
exercise of calculating the number of supported users per cell with the cell
area of the homogeneous case (0.1755 Km2 ) with our upper limit from
the non-homogeneous case (95.26 Erl/Km2) would result in around 17
voice users per cell which is low compared with the theoretical value of 42
users. However, in the homogeneous case it was pointed out that more
170
simulations are needed to come up with a better estimation of the number
of supported users per cell.
DL channel elements
160,0000
140,0000 DL Channel
120,0000 Elements usage
100,0000 [mean]
80,0000
60,0000 DL Channel
40,0000 Elements usage
20,0000 [max]
0,0000 00
00
00
00
00
0
00
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Figure 78: DL Channel elements usage, voice only service, non homogeneous scenario
140,0000
120,0000 UL Channel
100,0000 Elements usage
80,0000 [mean]
60,0000 UL Channel
40,0000 Elements usage
20,0000 [max]
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Figure 79: UL Channel elements usage, voice only service, non homogeneous scenario
CE Usage, Downlink
Coefficient Data:
a= 9
b= 0.98891575
c= -0.00183311
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Coefficient Data:
a= 17
b= 0.67270421
CE usage, Uplink
Coefficient Data:
a= -2
b= 0.9889
c= -0.0018
Coefficient Data:
a= 4.6884
b= 0.6727
172
8.1.1.4 Iub utilization
700,0000
600,0000
500,0000
Kbps
400,0000
300,0000 Iub traffic [DL]
200,0000
100,0000
0,0000
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Figure 80: Downlink Iub utilization, voice only service, non homogeneous scenario
As in the case of the homogeneous scenario, the target level of 1070 Kbps
was not reached with the offered traffic densities, therefore extrapolation
was used. The obtained extrapolation range of the best fit for the non
homogeneous scenario was [102.787, 254.39] Erl/Km2; compared with
the range obtained in the homogeneous scenario [209.9440; 218.8070]
the non homogeneous one exhibits more variation in the results; however
the range coming from the homogeneous scenario is included in the wider
range of the more “realistic” one. In terms of approximate number of
users with our estimation of 0.65 Km2 per cell we get from 66 to 165
voice users per cell to reach the Iub congestion level.
UL Load [%]
50,0000%
45,0000%
40,0000%
Noise Rise [%]
35,0000%
30,0000%
25,0000% UL Load [%]
20,0000%
15,0000%
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Figure 81: Uplink load, voice only service, non homogeneous scenario
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The traffic density to reach the target level of 60% Uplink load was not
reached within the simulation range, therefore, applying the analysis over
the best interpolation fits, the range of [201.298, 280.022] Erl/Km2 was
found, which is somewhat different from the range found in the
homogeneous scenario, [130.8437, 182.0143] Erl/Km2, and so is the
expected number of users. This difference can be attributed to the
averaging process mentioned in section 8.1.1.1, where we clearly saw
how our assumption for averaging purposes in the sense that all the cells
are not experiencing congestion, it is not true for almost 40% of the cells
in the realistic scenario. Therefore, interference analysis is quite difficult to
analyze over the whole network as the interference situation is very
particular for every cell and a more complete analysis is proposed for
further studies.
DL_TxPower [dBm]
40,0000
39,0000
Power [dBm]
38,0000
37,0000 DL_TxPower [dBm]
36,0000
35,0000
34,0000
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Figure 82: Downlink Transmitted power, voice only service, non homogeneous scenario
In this case, the congestion level (38.7 dBm) was found within the
simulation range, therefore, the best fit gave a value of 139.45 Erl/Km2.
The obtained value in the homogeneous situation was in a range from
[184,97; 205] Erl/Km2 but in the homogeneous case it shows more
variation given that the threshold level was not obtained within the
offered traffic densities so extrapolation of the best fit analysis is being
used, which can be somewhat imprecise. The main conclusion of this very
important KPI is that Downlink power usage threshold is reached in the
non homogeneous scenario before than in the homogeneous scenario.
174
8.1.2 Web Service
40,0000%
Code tree usage [%]
35,0000%
30,0000%
25,0000%
DL_Code tree
20,0000%
usage[%]
15,0000%
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
Figure 83: Downlink Code tree usage, voice only service, non homogeneous scenario
Again, as in the case of the homogeneous scenario, the Code Tree usage
level was not reached within the range of the offered traffic densities.
Extrapolation of results in both cases (homogeneous and non
homogeneous) shows similar results [239.89, 258,188] and [213.981,
282.201] Erl/Km2, respectively. Then for voice-only service we see that in
both scenarios there are no problems with Downlink code Tree. We will
then make the same comparison with a PS service (Web service) to
examine Downlink Code Tree usage in some more detail.
40,0000%
Code tree usage [%]
35,0000%
30,0000%
25,0000%
DL_Code tree
20,0000%
usage[%]
15,0000%
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
0
,0
,0
,0
,0
0,
10
20
40
80
16
Figure 84: Downlink code tree usage, web service only, non homogeneous scenario
175
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
As it can be seen in Figure 41, the target of 60% Downlink code tree was
not reached with the offered web service traffic densities in the
homogeneous scenario. The extrapolation based on the best fits
interpolation analysis showed a range of [42.9068, 181.145] Erl/Km2. In
the non-homogeneous scenario, the target level of 60% was neither
reached, however the extrapolation results showed a range around
[32.767, 36.3202] Erl/Km2. Therefore, lower traffic density values that
reach the Downlink code tree target were found in the non homogeneous
case. However, these are estimation based on extrapolations, so it is
suggested to try with higher traffic densities in the simulator further
studies to see how the network behaves in terms of Downlink Code Tree
usage.
300,0000
250,0000
200,0000
Kbps
150,0000 DL Throughput
100,0000
50,0000
0,0000
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
1,
3,
,9
,9
6,
12
25
400,0000
300,0000
Kbps
200,0000 DL Throughput
100,0000
0,0000
00
00
00
62
25
49
7
1,
3,
,9
,9
6,
12
25
176
The target of 100 Kbps as indicator of bad throughput performance was
not reached with the offered traffic densities in the non homogeneous
case (neither was done in the homogeneous counterpart), then the
extrapolation based on the interpolation best fits shows a range of
[37.6249 , 61.3206] Erl/Km2 for Web users indoor and [59.7381,82.0918]
Erl/Km2 for Web users outdoor, which in the case of the homogeneous
was around [18.9152, 23.093] Erl/Km2 for Web users indoor and [51.639;
58.8578] Erl/Km2 for Web users outdoor. Therefore for outdoor web users
of the non homogeneous scenario, the obtained results are similar to the
results in the homogeneous scenario, but for indoor users in the case of
the non homogeneous scenario the Figures are somewhat higher. Again, it
is suggested to test the obtained traffic densities with more simulations to
reach the 100Kbps target within the range of the traffic densities of the
experiments.
The service mix is going to be analyzed based on the next summary table.
In the case of the presence of ranges ([min [ max]) in the KPIs, only the
more restrictive values (i.e. the lower traffic density that would reach the
KPI target value) have been taken into account for this table.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Table 59: List of KPIs for the homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the target
threshold
Comparing both tables, the main differences in order are the presence of
the Dropping probability as a second element in the table of non-
homogeneous scenario and the uplink channel elements utilization that
appears before the downlink power usage in the homogeneous scenario.
About the level of ODV, the non homogeneous scenario reaches first its
first target, blocking probability at 1% with 3868.06 Mbit/busy hour/Km2
compared with 5279 of the homogeneous counterpart, but to reach the
last target threshold, the situation is the other way around, the target is
first reached at 14899,40 Mbit/busy hour/Km2 in the homogeneous
scenario, whereas the non-homogeneous scenario reaches this threshold
at 20656 Mbit/busy hour/Km2. Then we can say, according to the
simulation results, that in the realistic scenario, the first threshold is
reached before the homogeneous level (then the homogeneous level is
giving somewhat optimistic values for this first KPI), but to reach the last
KPI threshold, DL channel elements, the homogeneous scenario results
somewhat pessimistic as with the realistic scenario the target is reached
at a higher level of ODV.
With the traffic mixes with up to 160 Erl/Km2 of voice users (and the
corresponding densities for the rest of services given as the 5th column in
the Table 4), the main reasons for dropping, in the non homogeneous
scenario, were as follows:
• 21: DL congestion
178
Especially with the highest traffic densities, those two reasons were the
main ones and 41 out of the 53 cells had these problems (although with
different number of occurrences per cell).
As it was done in the previous chapter, the performance for each rule is
going to be measured by the active set size and the pilot pollution. The
next Figure shows a histogram with the active set size and Pilot pollution
histogram with the power rule applied in Germany:
Figure 86: Active set size and Pilot pollution histograms, Germany power rule
179
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Figure 87: Active set size and Pilot pollution histograms, Netherlands power rule
Analogous to the section 7.4, the Uplink Load and the Downlink
Transmitted Power are going to be compared for both pedestrian and
vehicular profile in the non-homogeneous scenario using the voice service,
and the throughput performance is going to be compared for both profiles
with the traffic mix simulation with voice traffic density 40 Erl/Km2 (and
the corresponding traffic densities for the other services as they were
specified in Table 4). The expected theoretical behavior regarding the
difference in performance between vehicular and pedestrian profile is the
same one explained in the section 7.4.
180
8.4.1 Uplink load (Voice service)
50.0000%
45.0000%
40.0000%
Uplink load [%]
35.0000%
30.0000% UL Load, vehicular [%]
25.0000%
20.0000% UL Load, pedestrian [%]
15.0000%
10.0000%
5.0000%
0.0000%
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
.0
.0
.0
.0
0.
10
20
40
80
16
Traffic Density [Erl/Km^2]
Figure 88: comparison Uplink Load pedestrian vs. vehicular mobility profiles
As it can be seen in the previous figure, the Uplink load for a vehicular
profile was slightly higher in the range from 20 to 80 Erl/Km2 but with the
load of 10 and 160 Erl/Km2 the levels obtained were almost equal. As the
target of interference load in uplink (60%) was not reached in both
homogeneous and non homogeneous scenario, more simulations with
loads higher than 160 Erl/Km2 are proposed in order to reach further
conclusions about the Uplink load for both profiles, but for the simulated
range it is clear that the Load is, on average, lower for the pedestrian
than from the vehicular profile, as it was expected.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
40.0000
39.0000
Power [dBm]
37.0000
DL_TxPower [dBm]
36.0000 pedestrian
35.0000
34.0000
10.0000 20.0000 40.0000 80.0000 160.0000
traffic density [Erl/Km^2]
Figure 89: comparison Downlink Transmitted Power, vehicular and pedestrian mobility
profile
182
Comparing each entry in the table, we can clearly see that for this
particular traffic mix with the specified traffic densities in the 3rd column of
Table 4, the Downlink throughput perceived by the user is always higher
for the pedestrian profile (packet switched services). For the circuit
switched service the registered throughput is the same as those services
(Speech and Video call) have guaranteed service bandwidth.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
1
B
de
No
r 1
c to
Se
Sector Node B
2 2
RNC
RNC
Softer Handover Soft Handover
Figure 90: Differences between Soft and Softer Handover
To keep track of the number of connections, the concept of the Active Set
is required. The Active Set, as it is defined in [Ericssonhandover], is the
set of cells used for a particular UE connection. The UE has a radio link
184
established to each of the cells present in its Active Set. This set is
updated dynamically (event based) during all the time that a connection is
alive, based on the measurements of the strength of the Primary Common
Pilot Channel (P-CPICH) Ec/Io or the Primary Common Pilot Channel (P-
CPICH) RSCP (Received Signal Code Power).
Where RSCP is the power (measured in the UE) carried by the decoded
pilot channel and RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is the total
wideband received power (measured in the UE) within the channel
bandwidth.
So basically, during a user service session, there are these possible events
related to Active set updating (using the name of the events described in
[25.922]:
185
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Equivalent to Timetotrigger 1A
.
∆T ∆T ∆T
Measurement
Quantity CPICH 1
As_Th + As_Th_Hyst
AS_Th – AS_Th_Hyst
As_Rep_Hyst
CPICH 2
CPICH 3
CPICH 2 >
CPICH1 – Time
(AS_Th –
AS_Th_Hyst) Event 1A Event 1C ⇒ Event 1B ⇒
Cell 1 Connected for a time > ⇒ Add Cell 2 Replace Cell 1 with Cell 3 Remove Cell 3
∆t→Add Cell
186
Where:
- Best_Ss :the best measured cell present in the Active Set;
According to Ericsson, too short settings for this timer cause update
events of the active set to occur too quickly after each other, leading to
high signaling load, and in the other hand too long settings cause that
although the criteria have been fulfilled, the active set will not be updated.
Less optimal cells will be used which leads to unnecessary interference.
This will waste UTRAN resources.
The experiment setup was done according to the Design Technique called
“Two-factor full factorial design without replications” presented in [Jain].
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
This means that we use two variables (or factors) which are carefully
controlled and varied to study their impact on the performance. In our
case, these two variables are the Traffic Densities (corresponding to the 5
columns of the Table 4) and the parameter TimetoTrigger1a with its
possible levels. The following Table shows the levels (values) chosen for
this parameter.
Once the input variables have been chosen, we have to define the output
variables, i.e. the “measured” data as referred in [Jain], although in this
case there is not measured data as such but simulated. Knowing the
expected behavior from Ericsson, we can monitor the performance in
terms of:
188
The “grand mean” µ is obtained by averaging all observations. Averages
per rows and columns are also required. Once these averages are
calculated, the “column effect” or αj (effect of the factor A at value j) are
obtained by subtracting the “grand mean” from each column mean, and
the Bi or row effects (effect of the factor B at value i) are calculated in the
same way, subtracting the “grand mean” from each row mean. This gives
us a first indication about how different is the performance for each of the
parameter/load alternatives regarding the average performance
represented by µ.
Next step is to build the matrix of the estimated response, defined as:
Yˆij = µ + αj + Bi (8-2)
Once this is defined, the Error Matrix can be found by subtracting position
to position the estimated response matrix from the “measured” response
matrix. Each entry of the error matrix is defined as follows:
As the values of the µ, αj’s and Bi’s are computed such as the error has
zero mean, this matrix has the property that the sum of all the entries in
a row or column must be zero.
Next step is to calculate the sum of squared errors (SSE) which is defined
as
SSE = Σ (eij2) (8-4)
Where this sum is performed including all entries in the error matrix.
Next, the total variation SST (which is different from the total variance) is
calculated as:
Where:
189
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
• SSA Df = (a-1)
The degrees of freedom of the factors A and B are because the errors in
each column should add 0 and in each row as well and for the errors the
degrees of freedom is the product of DfA and DfB.
At this point we can also calculate the Standard Deviation of each of the
factors:
SSE = STANDAR DEVIATION OF ERRORS = √(MSE) (8-9)
Standard DEVIATION µ = Se/ (ab) (8-10)
Standard DEVIATION αj = Se* √ ((a-1)/ab) (8-11)
Standard DEVIATION Bi = Se √ ((b-1)/ab) (8-12)
190
Variance of each factor = (Standard deviation of the factor)2 (8-13)
The last part is to calculate the F-ratios to test the statistical significance
of the factors (a systematic confirmation from the previous results based
on a statistical test). F-ratios are defined as follows:
Fa = MSA/MSE (8-14)
Fb = MSA/MSE (8-15)
First of all, we are going to show the original matrices with the
“measured” results with the Uplink Interference Load and the Soft
Handover Attempts. Next two tables illustrate the original matrices.
191
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Next, we show the Analysis of Variance after applying the Excel Data
Analysis Toolkit over the original tables and afterwards we draw the main
conclusions.
the results obtained for each measured response (i.e. Handover attempts
and Uplink Load interference) after applying the ANOVA-2 factor without
replication analysis were as follows:
Total 18032625325 19
Table 64: ANOVA of Handover attempts, additive model
Total 1.869841895 19
Table 65: ANOVA of Uplink load, additive model
192
The ROWS factor corresponds to the different traffic densities (5 levels)
and the COLUMNS factor corresponds to the 4 levels of the parameter
time to trigger 1a (0.200. 320 and 5000 msec). The columns are
respectively:
According to the ANOVA test of the Handover attempts (table 62), the
percentage of variation explained by each factor is as follows:
193
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
µ αj Bi
Yi = 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 eij (8-20)
194
Source of Variation SS df MS F F crit
Total 2,266830094 11
Table 68: ANOVA of Handover attempts with the multiplicative model
Total 0.747356222 11
Table 69: ANOVA of Uplink load with the multiplicative model
Again, the obtained F for the levels of the parameter time to trigger is not
higher than Fcrit, therefore with the multiplicative model it is not possible
either to guarantee statistical significance. In the chapter 15 of [Jain]
there are a list of graphical tests to determine which kind of
transformation would be required, three of these tests were tried but the
criteria to apply the given transformation were not fulfilled with the
collected information. Therefore, due to the limitations of time and
resources of this project, this verification with more transformations in
order to reduce the variance of the experiment is still open. It is also
suggested to perform more than one simulation per each traffic density
level and then apply the ANOVA 2 factor analysis with replication, which
was not possible in this project due to the limitations of time and
hardware.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
For this analysis, the best experiment is defined as the one with the
lowest handover attempts measurement and the lowest uplink load.
Therefore, we present below a table where the rows have been sorted in
order of increasing number of handovers and increasing uplink load:
The first interesting thing that we can notice in Table 68 is that in the
Load column, nearly all the experiments are ordered from the lowest load
(10 Erlangs) to highest Load (160 Erlangs) including all the time to trigger
levels per each traffic load level (exception made with the experiments 2,
18 an 4 that can be attributed to random errors in the simulator).
Therefore the effects of the increased traffic load on the system
196
performance, measured in terms of Hand-over attempts and Uplink Load,
can be seen: the highest load, the worse.
Taking a look at the second column, we can observe the pattern 5000.
320. 200 and 0 (with the 320 and 200 alternating position in some cases)
in mostly all the table. Again, variations of this pattern can be attributed
to experimental errors in the simulator.
Then, we can appreciate that for the same level of traffic load, the worst
results in terms of Handover Attempts are with the value 0 for the Time to
trigger parameter. So we clearly discard this setting as the best value
among the proposed four.
Next, we take a look at the values of Handover Attempts and Uplink Load
for the value 5000 of Time to Trigger: Although in some cases the number
of handovers is the lowest with this setting (as in the experiment 16), the
Uplink Load with this parameter, for the same traffic density, is the
highest (experiment 16 and 20. for instance). Therefore, this setting has a
tradeoff with the Uplink Load and it is also not the best option for the best
value among the proposed 4.
Next, we start making comparison of the levels 200 and 320. In order to
do this, the following table has been constructed, removing all the levels
corresponding to the values 0 and 5000 of the parameter Time to Trigger:
Now we have the table ordered by Handover attempts and Uplink Load
and it is also automatically ordered by Load levels, which simplifies our
197
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
analysis because now we can count the times that one parameter is better
than the other for each level of traffic density. The results of this
examination by each traffic level are shown in the next table. For doing
the evaluation, we have to assume that the main factor is the number of
handover attempts and then if this level is the same, the next factor to
consider is the Uplink load. However, this assumption is left to be
validated statistically in further studies.
MIX 10 Erl 0 1
MIX 20 Erl 1 0
MIX 40 Erl 0 1
MIX 80 Erl 1 0
COUNT 2 3
Table 72: Main results for the analysis of the parameter Time to trigger 1a
198
8.6 Summary, chapter 8
Blocking probability
The target blocking (1%) was reached within the interpolation range,
which is narrower than the one obtained in the homogeneous scenario
simulations. The interpolation range, close to the theoretical value of 42
users [Holma] goes from 34 to 62 voice users per cell for the non-
homogeneous scenario.
Dropping probability
Uplink Load
199
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
traffic than the others). However, simulations with higher traffic loads are
suggested in order to reach the threshold (60%).
Downlink power
Throughput
For web users outdoor the results are similar in both scenarios, but for
indoor users, in the non homogeneous scenario the figures are somewhat
better (i.e. the target threshold of 100 Kbps is reached after the
corresponding traffic density level for the homogeneous scenario). This
means that according to this specific non homogeneous scenario
configuration, indoor users experienced better throughput than their
homogeneous counter part.
Next table shows the KPIs ordered by which traffic density reaches first its
target level:
Channel elements,
UL 64 9146.39
200
ODV at target level* (Mbit/busy
KPI target level hour/Km^2)
Channel elements,
UL 64 6518.6300
Channel elements,
DL 256 14899.40
Table 74: List of KPIs for the homogeneous scenario, ordered by the occurrence of the target
threshold
Comparing both tables, the main differences in order are the presence of
the Dropping probability as a second element in the table of non-
homogeneous scenario and the uplink channel elements utilization that
appears before the downlink power usage in the homogeneous scenario.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
With the common approach (additive model), the ANOVA test doesn’t give
statistical significance to the levels of Time to Trigger parameter for the
analyzed set of experiments. Three more transformations were evaluated,
however the statistical significance was not found. More transformations
should be applied in order to reduce the variance and provide the
corresponding confidence interval for the analyzed parameters. A result
based on informal methods (applying the so-called “ranking” method
described in [Jain]) is provided and the conclusion is that the 320
milliseconds setting for the Time to Trigger 1a parameter has the best
performance of all the 4 tested levels, but this is something that has to be
guaranteed statistically (more simulations with perhaps different traffic
density settings must be tried).
202
9. Conclusions and future
work
This section is aimed to present the main conclusions of the work and also
to discuss the open issues and future work after this project is finished.
The next two tables summarize the main results for the Voice and Video
call services:
Table 75: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, Voice-0nly service
KPI Target Level No. users to reach the target Traffic density level
UL Load 60% 3 17,46
CE UL 64 3 17.74
DL power 38.7 dBm 3 19.55
DL code tree 60% 5 27.1968
Iub 1070 Kbps 6 32
Blocking prob. 1% 6 32.19
CE DL 256 9 49.7967
Table 76: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, Video call-only service
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
For the single-service scenario analysis, it can be observed that for both
circuit-switched services the capacity is mainly Uplink Limited (UL Load
and CE UL are the first two KPIs to reach their target levels). DL Power is
the third main capacity limiting factor and CE DL seems to be the one of
the least significant factors. Special attention must be paid to the CE UL
because it is also one of the main limiting factors for packet-switched
services as well. More experiments are required with the Video Call service
in order to present more conclusions about the dropping probability. Iub
utilization in Downlink and Downlink code tree usage, have intermediate
importance according to the simulation results.
Blocking 1% 2
prob.
CE UL 64 8
DL 100 kbps 12
throughput
(outdoor)
UL Load 60% 13
DL code 60% 16
tree
CE DL 256 30
Dropping 1% No dropping
probability was
experienced
Table 77: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, Web-only service
204
KPI Target No. Traffic
Level users to Density
reach Level
the
target
Blocking 1% 1 4.1627
prob.
Dropping 1% 1 8.1450
prob.
CE UL 64 2 9.83
CE DL 256 6 34.234
Table 78: Ordered KPIs by number of users to reach the target, FTP-only service
For the Packet Switched Services with the current threshold settings
(Blocking probability level set to the same level for voice service), the
Blocking Probability is the first KPI to reach the target. Theoretically,
allowing a higher Blocking Probability for PS services would increase the
capacity of the cell and this should be possible to implement, given the
characteristics of the packet-switched transmission which doesn’t put high
requirements about low delays.
Among the two simulated PS services, the main difference is the place of
the Dropping Probability, in the Web Service no dropping probability was
found with the simulated traffic loads (and therefore no estimation was
possible for the load that reaches the 1% threshold); however, as it was
mentioned before, this is in line with the RRM channel switching
algorithms (switching from DCH to FACH), when the Web users can still
keep the connection with data rates of 32 Kbps without been dropped by
the system, as it happens with the FTP users that keep using mostly the
205
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
206
According to both tables, capacity in both scenarios (homogeneous, non
homogeneous) is mostly Downlink Limited when all the services are
working together (i.e. Downlink Power target level occurs before than the
Uplink Load target level). DL Code tree usage and DL channel elements,
however, seems to be the last KPI to be reached. Iub utilization seems to
be also an important factor to be considered given that the assumption
made of just 1 E1 link between each Node B and the RNC (Iub interface)
gives this factor the 2d place (homogeneous) and 3rd place (non
homogeneous) in the order of the KPIs that are reached first.
Comparing both tables, the main difference in order is the presence of the
Dropping probability as a second element in the table of non-
homogeneous scenario.
The main reasons for dropping, in the non homogeneous scenario, were
as follows:
21: DL congestion
Especially with the highest traffic densities, those two reasons were the
main ones in 41 out of the 53 cells in the analysis area.
No significant differences were found with the two analyzed CPICH Power
rules in both homogeneous and non-homogeneous scenarios, therefore
the performance of the handover in terms of active set size distribution
and pilot pollution zones is equivalent, provided that the Downlink Path
loss between the Node B output port and the Antenna connector for all the
node Bs in the analysis area is below 4 dB.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The best setting (out of the four levels tested) was found using the
“Ranking” method and it corresponds to 320 milliseconds, although no
statistical significance could be derived using the ANOVA test with the
current load levels.
208
References
[21.905] 3GPP. Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications (TR 21.905 v 6.9.0). Sophia Antipolis,
June 2005.
[25.331] 3GPP, Radio Resource Control (RRC), Protocol Specification (TS 25.331 V6.4.0),
Sophia Antipolis, December 2004
[25.922] 3GPP, Radio resource management strategies (Release 6) (TR 25.922 V6.1.0),
Sophia Antipolis, May 2005.
[25.942] 3GPP, Radio Frequency (RF) system scenarios (Release 6) (TR 25.942 V6.4.0),
Sophia Antipolis, March 2005
[30.03] 3GPP. Universal Mobile Communication Systems (UMTS); Selection procedures for
the choice of radio transmission technologies of the UMTS (UMTS 30.03 version 3.2.0). TR
101 112 V3.2.0. Sophia Antipolis, 1998.
[34.108]3GPP, Common test environments for User Equipment (UE), Conformance Testing
(TS 34.108 V5.3.0), Sophia Antipolis, December 2004
[Alcatel] O. Aydin et al. UMTS Radio Network planning guideline. Alcatel, Ludwigsburg,
Germany, 2001.
[Castro] Jonathan P. Castro. The UMTS Network and Radio Access Technology: Air Interface
Techniques for Future Mobile Systems. Wiley, England, 2001.
[Dinan] Esmael Dinan, Aleksey Kurochkin and Sam Kettani. UMTS Radio Interface System
Planning and Optimization. Bechtel Telecommunications Technical Journal, Volume 1,
Number 1, p 1 – 10. 2002.
[Eurescom] Eurescom Project 921- D2. Guidelines For UMTS Radio Access Network Design
(summary). http://ftp.eurescom.de/~public-web-deliverables/P900-series/P921/D2/index.html
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[Holma] Harri Holma and Antti Toskala. WCDMA for UMTS, Radio Access for Third
Generation Mobile Communications (3rd Edition). Wiley, Chichester, England, 2004.
[Holmathesis] Harri Holma. A study of UMTS terrestrial radio access performance (PHd.
Thesis). Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Electrical and Communications
Engineering, Espoo, Finland, 2003.
[Jaber] Mona Jaber, Syed Ammar Hussain and Adel Rouz. Modified Stochastic Knapsack for
UMTS capacity analysis. Fujitsu Science and Technology Journal number 38Vol 2, p. 183-
191, 2002.
[Jain] Raj Jain. The art of computer systems performance analysis. Techniques for
experimental design, measurement, simulation, and modeling. Wiley, Massachusetts, United
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[Laiho] Jaana Laiho, Achim Wacker. Radio Network Planning Process and Methods for
WCDMA. Nokia Networks, Finland, 2001
[Madder] Andreas Mäder, Dirk Staehle. Analytic Modelling of the WCDMA Downlink
Capacity in Multi-Service Environments (Technical Report No. 330). University of Wurzburg,
Institute of Computer Science, Wurzburg, Germany, April 2004.
[Mathforinternet] Walter Willinger and Vern Paxson. Where Mathematics Meets the Internet.
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[Moret] Alexandre Moret, Silmar Palmeira and Phil Jones. EbNt versus BLER
characterisation – Results. Vodafone Group Plc Confidential, July 2004.
[Schneider-1] Peter Schneider, Determination of the UMTS Cell Capacity – Part 1. Vodafone
D2, Düsseldorf, Germany, July 2004
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[Schneider-2] Peter Schneider, Determination of the UMTS Cell Capacity – Part 2. Vodafone
D2, Düsseldorf, Germany, January 2005.
[Wedontknow] Vern Paxson and Sally Floyd. Why we don’t know how to simulate the
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A., p 1037 –
1044, 1997.
211
1. Appendix: UMTS
fundamental concepts
1.1 What is UMTS?
About the UMTS services, some commercial services have been available
for the general customers, in the concrete case of The Netherlands, since
the last year.
1.2 Technical characteristics
Technically speaking, the radio-access part (also called “the air interface”)
is the most important difference regarding to the so-called 2-2.5G
systems (e.g. GSM, GSM+GPRS). Instead of using the FDMA-TDMA
combination (i.e. carriers and timeslots per carrier) as the access
technology like in GSM, UMTS uses Wideband-CDMA, a technology based
on the Direct Sequence (DS) Spread Spectrum principle. Direct Sequence
makes reference to the usage of a special code to separate the signals
(opposite to “frequency hopping” which is the other Spread Spectrum
1
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
In general, in CDMA systems, the way the uplink (i.e. mobile station to
base station transmission) and downlink (i.e. base station to mobile
station transmission) connections are separated is referred either by FDD
(Frequency Division Duplex) or TDD (Time Division Duplex) modes
respectively.
For the UMTS public mode (W-CDMA), the choice has been the FDD mode,
which uses different frequencies for both uplink and downlink (i.e. the
mobile transmits in one frequency and receives in another). FDD is used
for large outdoor cells because it can support more users than TDD mode.
TDD uses the same frequency but different timeslots for each type of
connection (UL-DL) and W-CDMA in TDD mode is intended to provide
private indoor low-range communications.
About the code usage, it is important to mention that CDMA requires two
kinds of codes for its operation: channelization (spreading) code and
2
scrambling code. The usage of these codes depends on the direction of
the communication (in Uplink, the transmitter is the mobile whereas in
Downlink the transmitter is the Base station). The purpose of the
channelization (spreading) codes in both UL and DL directions is to
separate channels from a single transmitter, whereas the purpose of the
scrambling codes is to separate transmitters (also applies to both UL and
DL directions).
The main difference in the frequency domain between both kinds of codes
is that the Scrambling codes don’t modify the bandwidth of the
Information Signal, whereas the channelization codes do. As this is
something very important in order to understand how UMTS works, in the
next section the code usage is explained both in UL and DL.
In time domain, the effect is the change of rate of the information signal.
To distinguish from the Information Rate, 3GPP calls the Rate of the
channelization code as the Chip Rate, although physically the chips are
also bits (although of higher frequency (smaller period) than the data or
information bits). Therefore, after the channelization code is applied to the
information signal, the result is a signal with a bit rate equal to the chip
rate (the reference chip rate in UMTS is fixed to 3.84 Megachips / sec, and
varying the number of chips per information bit we obtain different user
speeds). The next figure helps to clarify the effects of the channelization
code in both frequency and time domain.
3
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Bandwidth of baseband
Power
Bandwidth
after spreading
1 f
Voltage
-1 t
Figure 1-2: Effects of the channelization code in Time and Frequency domain
The codes used for the channelization operations must have a special
property called orthogonality. Orthogonal code means that the inner
product of the code with the codes from the other users (called cross-
correlation property) or the product of the code with a shifted version of
the code itself (called auto-correlation) has to be as small as possible.
These codes are also known as OVSF (Orthogonal Variable Spreading
Factor) codes.
The number of chips used for each data bit is known as the spreading
factor (SF). Also, in the frequency domain, SF = W / R, where W =
Bandwidth of the spread signal [Hz] and R = Bandwidth of baseband data
[Hz].
SF = W / R (A1.2)
*: This definition is in line with the definition in Wines simulator documentation. However in some
other references, for instance [Holma], 0 means no orthogonality and 1 means full orthogonality.
Where Data Rate coded channel means that this data rate has into account
the overhead introduced by coding techniques and it doesn’t corresponds
4
directly to the information rate (unless the coding factor is 1 of course).
This is important to know because it is a common source of mistakes in
calculations.
Transmission medium Σ
5
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
As the radio access part has changed with respect to previous 2-2.5G
systems as GSM-GPRS, new methods have to be developed to estimate
capacity and coverage of the W-CDMA system.
N users
The demodulator of the Node B processes one desired signal S, and N-1
interfering signals with total power equal to S*(N-1). The desired signal is
shown in the graph as a continuous line and the rest in dotted lines. The
interference sums up to (N-1)* S.
S 1
SIR = = (A1.3)
(N − 1)S (N − 1)
The bit energy to noise ratio, denoted as Eb/No, is obtained by dividing the
signal power by the information (baseband) bit rate, and the interference
power by the total RF frequency.
6
S
EB R 1 Wrf
= = ⋅ (A1.4)
N o ( N − 1)S ( N − 1) R
Wrf
In the last part of equation (A1.4), the first term is equal to the signal to
interference ratio (as defined in equation A1.3) and the second term is
defined as the processing gain:
TotalSpreadBandwidth Wrf
Gp = = (A1.5)
InformationBitRate R
Eb
= SIR ⋅ GP (A1.6)
No
In another form:
1 Eb
SIR = ⋅ (A1.6.1)
GP N o
Eb
SIR = − Gp (A1.7)
No
7
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
W
W
Tx
antenna
RF output
f
0 f0
f0
Rc W= 5MHz
Data, Rb
Eb/No
Rx Ec/Io
RF input antenna This is
negative!
f
f0 0
Rc
Data, Rb
W= 5MHz
Spreading
Code
⎛R ⎞ ⎛ 3.84 ⋅10 6 ⎞
G p = 10 ⋅ log⎜⎜ c ⎟⎟ = 10 ⋅ log⎜⎜ 3 ⎟
(
⎟ = 10 ⋅ log 3.15 ⋅10 2 = 25dB )
⎝ Rb ⎠ ⎝ 12.2 ⋅10 ⎠
The required signal power density below the interference power density
before despreading is designated as SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio),
and it is also known as Ec/Io (In fact, Ec/Io and Ec/No are the same thing.
3GPP just had to use different nomenclature than the IS-95 community).
8
For speech service Eb/No is typically in the order of 5dB. That means that
after despreading the resulting baseband signal must be 5dB above noise
in order to be successfully reconstructed at the decoder. Therefore, the
required wideband SIR must 5 dB minus the processing gain. This follows
also from equation A1.7.
In other words:
SIR + G p = Eb / N o ⇒
⇒ −20dB + 25dB = 5dB
(Gains or ratios that are expressed in dBs can be added and subtracted.
In the dB scale multiplication is translated into addition).
But, what exactly does SIR of –20dB mean? It means that the signal can
be buried far below the interference. In fact for our example the chip
power density signal is 100 times smaller than the noise +interference
level.
⎛E ⎞ ⎛E ⎞ E 1
10 ⋅ log⎜⎜ c ⎟⎟ = −20dB ⇒ log⎜⎜ c ⎟⎟ = −2 ⇒ c = 2 ⇒ N o = 100 ⋅ Ec
⎝ No ⎠ ⎝ No ⎠ N o 10
Thus the required wideband SIR is so tolerant that the signal can be
buried in interference of a power density that is 100 times larger! Still is
that SIR good enough for the signal to be recovered. Compare this with
the 9 to 18 dBs of SIR required for good voice quality in GSM systems
[Holma].
As we have seen so far, within any given channel bandwidth (chip rate)
we will have a higher processing gain for lower user data bit rates
than for high. With high data rates some robustness of the WCDMA
against interference is clearly compromised.
9
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
This fact gives us the first impression of why the Interference levels in the
network are so important in the radio planning process of UMTS systems,
because if the interference level is high in some cells (because the
interference contribution of many users sharing the air interface and
probably using different data rates), then the Eb/No level of some links is
not going to be enough to make their signal to “rise” above the
interference level and therefore the call would be dropped (i.e. the
capacity in terms of number of supported users per cell is modified) and
the cell-size (coverage) would be reduced (phenomena known as “cell
breathing” effect). This is the main reason why in UMTS capacity and
coverage planning cannot be separated processes, as it can be done
for instance in other mobile systems such as GSM where first predictions
of the path loss are evaluated in order to ensure the coverage of the
desired area, and then capacity is dimensioned as a second step (capacity
in a GSM cell it is given by the number of available channels, which is a
function of the reuse factor and the number of carriers per cell [Umts-
forum6] and therefore the sensitivity level at the base stations (i.e. the
minimum power level of the incoming signal at the receiver in order to be
detected) can be assumed as a constant.
The following section aims to introduce shortly the network elements and
interfaces of the UMTS architecture (Release 99), including UTRAN and
Core Network. The Core Network however, it is presented here just for the
sake of the architecture completeness but its analysis is out of the scope
of this study.
10
CS
Networks
(PSTN,
UE UTRAN CN
CS-Domain
Iub Iu-CS
Node B MSC/V GMSC
RNC
.... HLR
Iub Iur
Node B RNC ... Iu-PS
SGSN GGSN
Uu ....
Iub
(air interface) PS-Domain
Node B
Simulation PS
Scope Networks
(Internet..)
Figure 1-6: UMTS Architecture (Rel-99)
UE (User Equipment)
Node B
11
A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Node B’s are connected to the RNCs through the Iub interface which
physically corresponds to one or more ATM links.
RNC
The RNC is the element responsible for most of the Radio Resource
Management in the UTRAN (Umts Terrestrial Radio Access Network). For
instance, the RNC is the element that solves the congestion situations by
issuing the corresponding congestion resolve actions directed towards the
congested Node B’s; also it is the key element in the Handover process;
performs a special power control known as “outer loop power control” and
handles admission control and code allocation for the cells served by the
controlled node B’s.
Two RNCs are connected through the logical Iur interface, which
corresponds physically to ATM links and allows soft handover between
RNCs and some other additional advanced functionality as described in
[Holma].
Core Network
The core network is the “all-in-one” network that connects the mobile
users of a given UTRAN with other mobile users from other companies,
with fixed phones and with other Data Networks. From the technical point
of view, the core network is the backbone of the mobile communication
system that provides connectivity to different radio access and fixed
networks. The Release 99 core network is just an evolution of the GSM
backbone; although with newer releases, starting from Release 4 with the
introduction of the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem, see [Umtsforum] for
more information), and Release 5, the ideas are converging towards an
all-IP core network, where the traditional signaling system (SS7) will be
replaced by SIP. As the focus of the simulation is in the UTRAN part, this
part of the architecture is mentioned only for reference and it is not going
to be explained in further sections.
HLR: The Home Location Register is a database that contains the master
copy of the user’s service profile.
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MSC/VLR: The Mobile Services Switching Center and Visitor Location
Register are the switch (MSC) and database (VLR) serving the UE in its
current location when it is using a circuit-switched service (e.g. speech).
GMSC: The Gateway MSC is a MSC which interfaces with external circuit-
switched networks. From the architectural point of view it can be seen as
a router that routes information between the PLMN of the UMTS network
(the network of MSCs) and its external interfaces connected to other
circuit-switched services (e.g. ISDN networks).
GGSN: The Gateway GPRS Support Node is the counterpart of the GMSC
but in the packet switched domain.
• Admission Control
• Congestion Control (Load Control)
• Radio Resource Allocation and Management
• Power Control
• Handover Control
• channel switching
The purposes of the RRM algorithms are to ensure planned coverage for
each service, providing the best capacity-coverage tradeoff; to
ensure required connection quality, to ensure the planned (low) blocking
and to optimize the system usage in run time.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Figure 1-7: RRM algorithms performed by the different UE and UTRAN elements
14
References:
[21.905] 3GPP. Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications (TR 21.905 v 6.9.0). Sophia Antipolis,
June 2005.
[Castro] Jonathan P. Castro. The UMTS Network and Radio Access Technology: Air Interface
Techniques for Future Mobile Systems. Wiley, England, 2001.
[Holma] Harri Holma and Antti Toskala. WCDMA for UMTS, Radio Access for Third
Generation Mobile Communications (3rd Edition). Wiley, Chichester, England, 2004.
[Umtsworld] www.umtsworld.com
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
The required steps to export the ATOLL project to Wines are as follows:
16
2.2 Export of the Computation Zone and Focus Zone
The computation zone and the focus zone are not stored in the project
database, so they need to be exported separately.
Tools -> Computation Zone -> Save as …. Enter a file name and
save the zone in *.shp format.
Tools -> Focus Zone -> Save as…. Enter a file name and save the
zone in *.shp format.
Atoll uses a separate path loss map for each antenna. The antenna
pattern is included in the path loss values.
To filter a group of Node Bs in the ATOLL Project: Go to Data -> Sites ->
Filter Inside a polygon. You will have two options:
• Computation zone
• Draw
The first option filters the node Bs and only the Node B’s inside the
computation zone (simulation zone in wines) are taken into account.
The second option allows you to draw a polygon selecting only the nodes
you want to work with.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
To be able to export the path loss data, first you have to make sure that a
prediction study already exists. If not, go to the “prediction folder” and
generate a prediction of “coverage by signal level”. Create the prediction,
then right click to execute the prediction and then you can export the path
loss data.
The clutter map must be saved as a raster file (e.g. BIL file).
To export the clutter map, use the menu entry Save as… in the
context menu of the Clutter folder of the Geo tab. It is
recommended to save the clutter map as a BIL file because Atoll
may crash in some cases when trying to save it as TIFF file.
The association of each clutter code with a clutter class is defined in the
Clutter classes properties of the Atoll clutter map.
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0 Default Class
1 Water
(…)
10 Coniferous Forest
To export the DEM terrain map, select it in the GEO TAB, Digital Terrain
Model folder, and select “save as” option, saving it as BIL file (ATOLL
crashes some times when trying to generate a TIF file).
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
If Environment traffic maps are used in Atoll, each map must be saved as
a raster file, e.g. in TIF format. This can be done using the menu entry
Save as in the context menu of the respective Environment map in the
UMTS Traffic folder of the Geo tab.
The preferred way is the export of *.mnu files − one for each environment
map, which must be stored in the same directory like the environment
map files. Such a *.mnu file must have the same name like the
corresponding environment map file, but with the extension *.mnu . It
simply contains the Environment code and the associated
For the example in Figure 2-1 the *.mnu file contents must be:
0 no data
1 Urban
2 Rural
If there is only one environment traffic map defined in the Atoll project or
if all defined environment traffic maps have the same Environment Codes
definition, an alternative way is the definition in the [EnvironmentCodes]
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section of the ASM configuration file (atollimportmodule.ini) in the
following format:
EnvironmentName = CodeNumber
[EnvironmentCodes]
no data = 0
Urban = 1
Rural = 2
For the most convenient usage of the ASM in connection with Atoll
environment traffic maps it is recommended to create a *.mnu file for
each environment traffic map.
If Cell traffic maps are used in Atoll the traffic data should be imported to
WiNeS using the traffic matrix import function based on raster layers,
which is described as creating a Traffic Matrix from a Surface Plot Layer in
[W-UG].
Default 0 0
Suburban: <6m 10 30
Suburban: 6-9m 10 30
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
Urban: 9-12m 15 50
Urban: 12-18m 15 50
Urban: 18-27m 15 50
City: 27-40m 20 60
City: >40m 20 60
Table 2-1: Example of assigned clutter class weights
The combined weights together with the area size of each clutter class
determine the final number of users per each pixel. This number of users
is given by the formula:
Nk = Nclass x Wk Sk / Σ( Wj * Sj)
Where
• Nk = Number of users in the k clutter
• Nclass = Number of users in an environment class
(defined in the “environments” Tab).
• Wk = k clutter weight at a fixed surface (value
assigned for each Environment)
• Sk = k clutter surface.
For more information, consult ATOLL user guide section VIII.5.2.e.v, page
287.
b) In the GEO Tab, select UMTS Traffic, right click and then
select “new map”. Afterwards select “map based on
environments (raster)” option.
c) Now you have a box open. Replace the entry “no data” of the
list with the environment that you defined (in this case,
“Dense Urban”).
d) Select the “draw polygon” tool. Use this tool to draw the
polygon where this traffic map is going to be created (usually
we can take the same simulation area). When finish press
double click.
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e) In “UMTS Traffic” folder, select the option “export cumulated
traffic”.
f) To check that it is working, we can export it first as BMP
image and check if the image shows the different traffic
densities in the map.
g) After the check, to be able to work with it in Wines, we have
to “export cumulated traffic” but now we are going to save it
as “BIL” file.
Finally, in Wines select the appropriate “service profile”, right click over it,
Select the option “import traffic from Raster Image” and select the BIL file
created in step g.
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A.F. COSME. UMTS CAPACITY SIMULATION STUDY
References:
24