mcRNC Basic Architecture Training

Ahmed Mohamed
Dec, 19 2012

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1 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
 Agenda

• mcRNC Product Overview

• mcRNC HW Architecture Overview
• mcRNC Capacity and Connectivity
• mcRNC Software Architecture Overview
• mcRNC Networking Solution Architecture
• mcRNC Network Connectivity
• mcRNC Availability and Reliability
• mcRNC Data Path and Traffic Flows

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mcRNC Product Overview

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 mcRNC Product Overview
Multicontroller RNC

• Optimised for different radio

applications
• Ultra high packing density –
minimized site costs and overall
OPEX
CS + PS
• Maximum scalability – totally
new flexibility in operator’s
network building
RNC
• Very high availability with
advanced redundancy principles
• Integrated high capacity IP
transmission Scaling from low to very high capacities
just by adding modules
Controller role can be changed by loading
corresponding software – minimal or no
HW impact

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mcRNC Architectural Principles Overview

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 mcRNC Compatibility and Portability

• mcRNC SW shall be compatible with cRNC application SW

– Co-siting of cRNC and mcRNC
 mcRNC can be used to increase user plane capacity, unified transport etc
 For example, control plane in cRNC and user plane in mcRNC shall be supported
• Portability of SW to be used with other processing architectures
shall be ensured.
– Libgen and PAL shall provided sufficient abstractions for the user plane
protocols to be used on multiple processor types.

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 mcRNC Availability

• Avoid single point of failure

• Redundancy based on the type of service offered
– Fault tolerance by replication
– Fault tolerance by redundancy
• Fault isolation and diagnosis without affecting working parts
• Avoid propagation of fault from source to other units
• Connectivity to other NEs and cell services protected ahead of
capacity in case of failure.

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 mcRNC Scalability
• Scalability in multiple dimensions
– Throughput
– Supported number of WBTS
– Transport connectivity
– Supported number of users
– Flexibility in configuring and optimizing the system in any dimension
• Possibility to stack more BCN modules without breaking the system
– BCN modules can be of varying processing capacities
– Newer processors providing higher processing capacity can be added
 Over-provisioned internal backplane
• Less centralized processing and shared resources improves scalability
• Load balancing and multiple distribution points in design
– Incoming connections are distributed evenly
– Multiple points of distribution provide pipelined execution
 Avoids pressure points

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 mcRNC Resource Management
• Homogeneous hardware for different processing enables resource
sharing between functions
– Dimensioning the system according to the traffic profile expected in the
network possible
 Voice dominated networks and data dominated networks shall have different
composition of cores
 Possible to modify the composition based on data traffic growth
 Hardware modularity and software defined functions enable efficient use of
processing resources
• Co-located control and user plane improves performance
– Decentralized / localized decision making for resource allocation
 Per call jump to centralized units for decision making and resource allocation
avoided
– Slow path escalation to centralized resource manager only in case of
overload or resource unavailability.
– Yet, location transparency of processing endpoints ensured
– Management of resources transparent to the user of the service

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 mcRNC Overload protection
• Ensure graceful degradation in overload mode
– Platform, Middleware and application specific overload control mechanisms
– Predictable behaviour under sustained load ensured by load shared
processing units and distribution schemes
 Round-robin used in many distribution algorithms
 Units in overload mode above higher threshold removed from participation list
 Inclusion in the participation list on coming below lower threshold
 Distribution entity does not maintain the list of participants
• List of eligible participants provided by different load monitors / managers
• Support for controlled switchover
• Access control at the earliest point
– Closer to boundary dropping of requests, when needed
 Avoids wastage of internal resources when under load

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10 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date