Professional Documents
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Traffic Theory
Mulungushi University
School of Engineering and Technology
Circuit and Packet Switching
Traffic Engineering
• One billion+ terminals in voice network alone
– Plus data, video, fax, finance, etc.
• Imagine all users want service simultaneously…its not even
nearly possible (despite our common intuition)
– In practice, the actual amount of equipment provisioned is vastly
less than would support all users simultaneously
• And yet, by and large, we get the impression of phone and data
networks that work very well!
• How is this possible?
Traffic theory !!
Traffic Engineering – Trade-offs
• Design number of transmission paths, or radio channels?
– How many required normally?
– What if there is an overload?
• Design switching and routing mechanisms
– How do we route efficiently?
– E.g.
• High-usage trunk groups
• Overflow trunk groups
• Where should traffic flows be combined or kept separate?
α
If receive calls from a terminal in time T: γ
T
f (t ) e t 0t mean
1
• Class Question: What do these observations about telephone traffic
imply about the nature of the traffic sources?
-ve Exponential Holding Times
• Implies the “Memory-less” property
– Prob. a call last another minute is independent of how long the call has
already lasted! Call “forgets” that it has already survived to time T1
PT T1 t T T1 PT t
• Proof:
P T T1 t T T1
PT T1 t T T1
PT T1
P T T1 t e (T1 t ) / h
T1 / h
Recall: PT T1 e
P(T t ) e t / h
e T1 / h e t / h e t / h PT t
e T1 / h
Characterization of Telephone Traffic (3)
• Holding Time (h)
– Mean length of time a call lasts
– Probability of lasting time t or more is also –ve exponential in
nature:
P(T t ) e t / h t0
P(T t ) 0 t 0
– Real voice calls fits very closely to the negative exponential form
above
– As non-voice “calls” begin to dominate, more and more calls have a
constant holding time characteristic
• Departure Rate ():
1
h
Some Real Holding Time Data
Traffic Volume (V)
= departure rate
“Erlang” unit
The Erlang
• Dimensionless unit of traffic intensity
• Named after Danish mathematician A. K. Erlang (1878-1929)
• Usually denoted by symbol E.
• 1 Erlang is equivalent to traffic intensity that keeps:
– one circuit busy 100% of the time, or
– two circuits busy 50% of the time, or
– four circuits busy 25% of the time, etc.
• 26 Erlangs is equivalent to traffic intensity that keeps :
– 26 circuits busy 100% of the time, or
– 52 circuits busy 50% of the time, or
– 104 circuits busy 25% of the time, etc.
Erlang (2)
• How does the Erlang unit correspond to ccs?
150 150
TO = A = 150 x 0.10 E = 15.0 E
TC = 150 x 0.10 E = 15.0 E
TL = 0 E
Traffic Offered, Carried, and Lost (2)
• A = TO = TC + TL
Lost
Traffic Carried Traffic
Intensity Offered
Traffic
Traffic
TC
# of Trunks
Grade of Service (gos)
• In general, the term used for some traffic design objective
• Indicative of customer satisfaction
• In systems where blocked calls are cleared, usually use:
TL TL
gos P( B)
TO TL + TC
• Typical gos objectives:
– in busy hour, range from 0.2% to 5% for local calls, however
– generally no more that 1%
– long distance calls often slightly higher
Source #1
Offered Traffic 1 3
Total Traffic Offered:
Source #2 TO = 0.4 E + 0.3 E
Offered Traffic 2 4 TO = 0.7 E
Source #1
Offered Traffic 1 3
Total Traffic Offered:
Source #2 TO = 0.4 E + 0.3 E
Offered Traffic 2 4 TO = 0.7 E
Source #1
Offered Traffic 1 3
Total Traffic Offered:
Source #2 TO = 0.4 E + 0.3 E
Offered Traffic 2 4 TO = 0.7 E
mk mk
m A A A
k k
A m!
P(k ) 1 1
k m m k!(m k )! m m
Binomial Distribution Model (2)
• What does it mean if we only have N servers (N<m)?
– We can have at most N busy sources at a time
– What about the probability of blocking?
• All N servers must be busy before we have blocking
P ( B ) P (k N ) P (k N ) P (k N 1) ... P (k m)
mk
A A
k
m m
1 Remember:
k N k m m mk
m A
k
A
P(k ) 1
k m m
mk
m A
N 1 k
A
1 1
k 0 k m m
Binomial Distribution Model (3)
• What does it mean if k>N?
– Impossible to have more sources busy than servers to serve them
– Doesn’t accurately represent reality
• In reality, P(k>N) = 0
– In this model, we still assign P(k>N) = A/m
– Acts as good model of real behaviour
• Some people call back, some don’t
P( B) P(k N ) P( B) P(k N )
e k = Mean # of
P(k )
k! Busy Sources
• What is ?
– Mean number of busy sources
– =A
e A Ak
P(k )
k!
Poisson Traffic Model (2)
• Now we can calculate probability of blocking:
P ( B ) P (k N ) P ( N ) P ( N 1) ... P()
A Remember:
k k
e A A A
e P(k )
e A Ak
kN k! k N k! k!
N 1
Ak A
1 e
k 0 k! Example:
P ( B ) P ( N , A) P (7,10)
• How do we calculate A?
– Very carefully, or
– Use traffic tables
Traffic Tables (2)
P(B)=P(N,A)
A
Traffic Tables (3)
P(N,A)=0.10
N=10
N=10
A 4.14
For N = 10, A = 4.14 E 41.4% efficiency
N 10
A 78.2
For N = 100, A = 78.2 E 78.2% efficiency
N 100
0 1 2 …… N-1 N
2 3 (N-1) N
Immediate Service
Erlang B Birth-Death Process (2)
• Steady State (statistical equilibrium)
– Rate of arrival is the same as rate of departure
– Average rate a system enters a given state is equal to the average
rate at which the system leaves that state
Probability of moving
from state 1 to state 2? P1
P0 0 P1 1 P2 2 …… PN-1 N-1 PN N
2 3 (N-1) N
Probability of moving
from state 2 to state 1? 2P2
Erlang B Birth-Death Process (3)
P0 0 P1 1
P2 2 …… P N-1
N-1
PN N
• Set up balance equations:
2 3 (N-1) N
P0 P1 P0 P1 P1 P0
P1 P1 2 P2 P0 P1 2 P2
2
P
P2 P1 0
2 P2 P2 3 P3 P1 P2 3 P3 2 2
3 P3 P3 4 P4 P2 P
3
P3 P2 0
3 6
Pk 1 k Pk
( N 1) PN 1 PN 1 N PN PN 2 k
P
Pk 0
N PN PN 1 PN 1 N PN k!
Erlang B Birth-Death Process (4)
Recall: k
Rule of Total Probability: P
Pk 0
1 k!
P0
i
N N
P0
P 1 N
1
i
i 0 i !
i
i 0 Recall:
i 0 i !
Ah
k
Ak 1
k!
Pk k ! N i i
N
A1
i 0 i !
i 0 i !
For blocking, must be in state k = N:
AN
P( B) B( N , A) PN N ! N
Ai
“B” = Erlang B
i 0 i!
“N” = # Servers
“A” = Offered Traffic
Erlang B Traffic Table
B(N,A)=0.001
Example: In a BCC system with
m= sources, we can accept a
0.1% chance of blocking in the
nominal case of 40E offered traffic. B(N,A)=0.005
However, in the extreme case of a
20% overload, we can accept a
0.5% chance of blocking.
How many outgoing trunks do we
need? A=40 E
N=59
Nominal design: 59 trunks
Overload design: 64 trunks A48 E
Requirement: 64 trunks
N=64
Example (2)
P(N,A)=0.01
N=32
A=20.3 E
P(N,A) & B(N,A) - High Blocking
• We recognize that Poisson and Erlang B models are only
approximations but which is better?
– Compare them using a 4-trunk group offered A=10E
Erlang B Poisson
B (4,10) 0.64666 P (4,10) 0.98966
P0 0 P1 1 P2 2 …… PN-1 N-1 PN N
2 3 (N-1) N
Immediate Service
Engset Traffic Model (2)
• Balance equations give:
k 1
Pk P0
m! P0
and i
k !(m k )!
N
m
i 0
i
k
therefore: m but can show that: A
k
Pk i m A
N
m
i 0 i
A m
N
m A N
P ( B ) P (k N ) E (m, N , A)
A m
N i
“E” = Engset
i 0 m A
i
Engset Traffic Table M = 30 sources
# trunks (N)
P(B)=E(m,N,A) N=10
A=4.8 E
P0 0 P1 1 P2 2 …… P N N PQ1 Q1 PQ2 Q2 ……
2 3 N N N N
Immediate Service
Erlang C Distribution Model (2)
• Balance equations give:
1
Pk
Ak P0
, kN
Ak P0
Pk k N , k N P0
AN N N 1 Ai
and and
k! N N!
N ! N A i 0 i !
AN N
AN N
P( B)
C ( N , A) N N ! N AN 1 i
P0
N! N A
A N A
“C” = Erlang C
N ! N A i 0 i !
Erlang C Traffic Tables N=18
Example:
What is the probability of blocking
in an Erlang C system with 18
servers offered 7 Erlangs of traffic?
Delay in Erlang C
• Expected number of calls in the queue?
k
AkAN A
(k N ) Pk (k N ) k N P0 Pk k
k N kN N N! N ! k 0 N
P0 A N A N A C ( N , A) h
C ( N , A)
N! N A N A NA NA
Recall:
Mean #Calls Delayed h T
Mean Delay over All Calls = C ( N , A)
Arrival Rate of Calls NA
T
h
Mean Delay of Delayed Calls =
NA
Also: h
T
P (delay T ) C ( N , A)e NA
Comparison of Traffic Models
5E NN22=13
=? Ntotal = 13 + 13 = 26 trunks
Trunk efficiency?
TC 10(1 0.002)
0.384
N 26
38.4% utilization
Efficiency of Large Groups (3)
• One trunk group offered 10 Erlangs, and B(N,A)=0.002
10 E N=20
N=? From traffic tables, find B(20,10) 0.002
N = 20 trunks
Trunk efficiency?
TC 10(1 0.002)
0.499
N 20
49.9% utilization
B=0.1
A B=0.1
B=0.01 B=0.01
B=0.001 B=0.001
N N
Sensitivity to Overload
• Consider 2 cases:
Case 1: N = 10 and B(N,A) = 0.01
B(10,4.5) 0.01, so can carry 4.5 E
What if 20% overload (5.4 E)? B(10,5.4) 0.03
3 times P(B) with 20% overload
Case 1: N = 30 and B(N,A) = 0.01
B(30,20.3) 0.01, so can carry 20.3 E
What if 20% overload (24.5 E)? B(30,24.5) 0.08
8 times P(B) with 20% overload!
“Trunk Group Splintering”
• if high possibility of overloads, small groups may be better
Incremental Traffic Carried by Nth Trunk
• If a trunk group is of size N-1, how much extra traffic can it
carry if you add one extra trunk?
– Before, can carry: TC1 = A x [1-(B(N-1,A)]
– After, can carry: TC2 = A x [1-(B(N,A)]
A B( N 1, A) B( N , A)
AN ( N A) B( N , A)
• What does this mean? for very low blocking
Fixed B(N,A)
AN
N
Example
• Individual trunks are only economic if they can carry 0.4 E or
more. A trunk group of size N=10 is offered 6 E. Will all 10
trunks be economical?
AN A B( N 1, A) B( N , A)
6 0.07514 0.04314
0.192 E 0.4 E