1AA 00014 0004 (9007)A4

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Dimensioning Rules for GPRS

3DC 20003 0013 UZZZA

with BSS Software Release B6.2

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CONTENTS
1. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS........................................................................................................... 3
2. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 3
3. GPRS ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 4
4. AIR INTERFACE DIMENSIONING.................................................................................................. 4
5. DIMENSIONING RULES FOR THE A935 MFS EQUIPMENT ........................................................ 6
5.1

GPRS traffic load ................................................................................................................... 6

5.1.1

Number of PDCH...................................................................................................... 6

5.1.2

Traffic mix per BSS................................................................................................... 6

5.1.3

Total number of paging............................................................................................. 7

5.1.4

Number of TBF establishments/s on CCCH per direction per cell (ec) .................... 7

5.1.5

Number of simultaneous TBF ................................................................................... 7

5.1.6

Number of GSL required........................................................................................... 8

5.2

A935 MFS Configuration rules:.............................................................................................. 9

5.3

Other dimensioning rules:...................................................................................................... 9

6. DIMENSIONING RULE FOR THE BSC-MFS INTERFACE .......................................................... 10

6.1

Configuration rules............................................................................................................... 10

6.2

Method for dimensioning the interface between the BSC to the A935 MFS........................ 11

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7. DIMENSIONING RULES FOR THE A935 MFS-SGSN (GB) INTERFACE................................... 13

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7.1

General dimensioning rule................................................................................................... 13

7.2

Configuration rules............................................................................................................... 13

7.3

A935 MFS Synchronisation : ............................................................................................... 14

7.4

Links between A935 MFS and OMC-R:............................................................................... 15

7.5

Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................... 16

7.6

Terminology ......................................................................................................................... 16

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1. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS
[1]

3DC 20003 0012 UZZZA

Dimensioning Rules for G2 BSC with BSS Software Release B6.2

[2]

3DC 21016 0005 TQZZA

A935 MFS Product Description

[3]

ETSI Technical

Multiplexing and Multiple Access on the Radio Path

[4]

ETSI Technical

Specification GSM 05.02

GPRS Service Description Stage 2

Specification GSM 03.60

[5]

3DC 21150 0002 TQZZA

GPRS Network Design Process with BSS Software Release B6.2

[6]

3DC 21144 0008 TQZZA

GPRS in Release B6.2 Functional Feature Description

2. INTRODUCTION
The present document indicates the dimensioning rules for the A935 MFS (Multi BSS Fast Packet
Server) equipment , the links between the BSC and the A935 MFS, and the links between the A935
MFS and the SGSN.
The present document describes the rules which are specific to B6.2 SMG 28(*), B6.2 Step1 and
B6.2 Step2 software releases.

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(*) B6.2 SMG 28 is intended for demonstrations and field trials only

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3. GPRS ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW

OMC-R
IMT
SGSN

Gb

BTS

Abis
Abis

MFS
(PCU)
BSC

Ater

Gb

Gb
Ater

MSC
TC

4. AIR INTERFACE DIMENSIONING

The radio time-slots assigned to GPRS (i.e. PDCH) are dynamically allocated according to the real
GPRS traffic within limits which can be defined for each cell by the Operator from the OMC-R by
setting the parameters as described below:
The Operator can first define the Maximum number of radio time-slots per cell for GPRS: This
parameter, named MAX_PDCH_GROUP, can be any digit from 0 to 8. Only 1 TRX per Cell can carry
time-slots for GPRS.
The "Capacity on Demand" feature, using the dynamic allocation principle, enables, when speech
traffic is important and if there are some GPRS time-slots not used, to use these GPRS time-slots for
speech (or circuit switched data).
However, the Operator can ensure that minimum resource is always reserved for GPRS even if the
cell is highly loaded with non-GPRS traffic, by entering a second parameter, named
MIN_PDCH_GROUP, corresponding to the minimum number of time-slots dedicated to GPRS.
These time-slots will not be used for speech and reserved for GPRS.
Besides, in case of high speech traffic, the Operator can prioritize speech traffic versus GPRS data
thanks to a third parameter, named MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD This parameter gives the maximum
number of time-slots that can be allocated for GPRS when the cell load is beyond a given threshold.

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Thus, when the speech traffic increases within a cell and exceeds a given threshold, the number of
time-slots allocated to GPRS will automatically be reduced according to this parameter.

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To determine the number of PDCHs in order to match with the traffic mix expected within a cell,
please refer to [5].
Other rules on the Air Interface with the B6.2 release:
- CS-1 (9.05 kbit/s1) and CS-2 (13.4 kbit/s1) channel coding schemes are supported with B6.2.
The best one is automatically selected depending on the radio conditions. CS-3 and CS-4
channel coding schemes will be supported in a future release.
Note: The operator can thus choose a TRX with low interference level in order to maximise
the capacity and quality of GPRS traffic. Besides, if the operator chooses a TRX
carrying BCCH or SDDCH, the automatic reconfiguration feature will also apply to the
GPRS service, the new TRX being configured with GPRS according to the same set of
parameters.
- The following numbers of radio time-slots (PDCH) can be used by the different types of Mobile
Stations (MS):
2)

- Type 1 MS (half duplex) : up to 4 slots in downlink, up to 2 slots in uplink.

2)

- Type 2 MS (full duplex) : up to 5 slots in downlink, up to 5 slots in uplink.

- Up to 16 Mobile Stations ( 9 down-link; 7 up-link ) can share the same time-slot. However, the
Operator can select lower figures in order to ensure that each Mobile has more than a given
minimum throughput.
- Up to 32 Mobile Stations can be in transfer simultaneously within a Cell (i.e. up to 32 uplink
and 32 downlink TBF)
- Impact on the Abis interface:
Each active PDCH is handled by one 16 kbit/s Abis channel. No such channel is
statically reserved on the Abis interface, but dynamically allocated. Hence GPRS
introduction in a deployed network has no impact on the Abis interface .

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1 These values correspond to raw bit rates. The throughput at RLC level depends on the BLER. Typical average value in a

cell (with a typical mix of CS1 and CS2) at the RLC level is 10.5 kbit/s. The PDCH IP throughput is slightly less since
intermediate layers overheads must be taken into account. This overhead impact depends on the packet size; thus for
packet size of 300 Kbyte, the overhead account for 9% resulting in an PDCH IP capacity of 9.6 kbit/s. For more information
on the bit rates at the RLC and IP levels, please refer to [5].
2 See chapter GLOSSARY

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5. DIMENSIONING RULES FOR THE A935 MFS EQUIPMENT

Alcatel implements the BSS GPRS application part within a new equipment: the Multi BSS Fast
Packet Server (A935 MFS). It is made up of:
- GPRS Processing Unit boards (GPU) supporting PCU functions and Gb interface termination
towards the SGSN
- and redundant control units.
This document applies to the A935 MFS equipment equipped with GPU board of the type: JBGPU2.
We will refer to these equipment as A935 MFS and GPU board.
There is a one to one relationship between one BSC and one GPU board: one GPU board handles a
single BSC, and one BSC is supported by one GPU

board (the BSC - GPU connection being

realized through one or more PCMs, as described below).

5.1 GPRS traffic load

All the following criteria must be respected
5.1.1 Number of PDCH
Each GPU board can handle up to 240 active PDCH (Packet Data Channel).
For more information on the method for predicting the number of active PDCH, please refer to [5].
Remark:
- The PDCHs which are reserved by the parameter MIN_PDCH_GOUP (cf 4) are
considered as active even when they do not send traffic .
5.1.2 Traffic mix per BSS
Number of TBF establishments/s (e) (UL+DL), number of transferred LLC frames/s (l) (UL+DL)
e 215
l 960

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The following graph indicates the relationship between these two criteria that must be always
respected

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LLC frames /s
(UL+DL)

960

215

215

TBF establishments /s
(UL + DL)

Fig.: Relationship between the number of TBF establishments/s and the number of
transferred LLC frames/s
Remark:
- The O&M Performance Management gives counters which are related to the TBF
establishments and to the number of transferred LLC frames (B6.2 Step2).
5.1.3 Total number of paging
The sum of the total number of PS paging/s (y) on Gb interface, the total number of CS paging/s (w)
on A interface, and the total number of CS paging/s (w) on Gb interface must be below 70.
y + w + w 70

5.1.4 Number of TBF establishments/s on CCCH per direction per cell (ec)
ec 3

5.1.5 Number of simultaneous TBF

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The maximum number of simultaneous TBF is 1440.

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5.1.6 Number of GSL required

The number of GSL (GPRS signalling links) required depends on the traffic load, and the traffic mix.
Besides, for security reason, it is recommended to have 2 GSL minimum .
The following table indicates the number of GSL required depending on the number of TBF
establishments/s. The assumptions taken for PS pagings and PDCH allocation+deallocation /s
correspond to the Alcatels GPRS reference traffic model.
- PS pagings: 13.5 /s
- PDCH allocation+deallocation= 10/s
- maximum acceptable load on GSL: 80%

Cumulative GSL load

in bytes/s

14375

12755

6395

82
1 GSL

188

215

2 GSL

TBF establishment/s

3 GSL

Remarks:
- With B6.2 Step1 , there can be up to 2 GSL links; with B6.2 Step2 , there can be up to 4
GSL links.
- The

O&M

Performance

Management

gives

counters

related

to

the

PDCH

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allocation+deallocation and to the PS pagings.

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5.2 A935 MFS Configuration rules:

- The A935 MFS can accommodate from 1 to 2 telecommunication sub-racks. Each sub-rack
can include from 2 to 12 GPU boards, the granularity being 1 GPU board.
- One GPU board per sub-rack is always dedicated to the n+1 redundancy feature provided by
the Redundancy Access Bus (RAB). Hence each A935 MFS sub-rack can include up to 11
GPU boards connected to 11 BSCs, plus 1 GPU board for redundancy. Thus, one A935 MFS
can control up to 22 BSCs .
For more information on the A935 MFS equipment, please refer to [2].
Remark:
- With B6.2 SMG28, there can be only 5 BSCs maximum connected to 1 MFS. Besides
the GPU redundancy feature is not available with B6.2 SMG28.

5.3 Other dimensioning rules:

All the BSCs connected to the different GPUs of a same MFS must be connected to the same OMCR as the MFS.
- 1 A935 MFS accounts for 2 BSCs in the dimensioning rules for the OMC-R A1353-RA.
- There can be more than 1 A935 MFS per MSC, and one A935 MFS can be connected to

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BSCs of several MSCs .

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6. DIMENSIONING RULE FOR THE BSC-MFS INTERFACE

6.1 Configuration rules
The A935 MFS equipment is generally co-located with the Transcoding equipment and with the MSC
(for transmission cost reasons and to ease synchronisation).
The Ater multiplexed interface between the MFS and the BSC multiplexes CS (Circuit Switched)
traffic, GPRS traffic, and GPRS signalling link (the GSL).
The number of time-slots (64kbit/s) assigned to GPRS (within the Ater Multiplexed interface from the
BSC to the A935 MFS) is statically allocated by the Operator. This number of time-slots can be
changed from the OMC-R, and must always respect the following rules:
- Granularity:
The number of time-slots dedicated to GPRS can be 4, 8, 15, 22, 29 per Ater Multiplexed
PCM, and even several complete PCMs, up to 8, can be assigned to GPRS. These numbers
must include the time-slot(s) dedicated to the GSL (GPRS signalling link). Please refer to
5.1.6. These GSL time-slots must be placed on different Ater Multiplexed PCMs.
- Maximum configuration:
The maximum number of Ater Multiplexed PCMs that can be connected to one GPU is 8.
- Minimum configuration:
For each Ater Multiplexed PCM carrying GPRS, 4 time-slots minimum must be dedicated to
GPRS. Besides, it is strongly recommended for security reason to have minimum 2 Ater
Multiplexed PCMs connected to the A935 MFS (however configuration with only 1 Ater
Multiplexed PCM is allowed.)
For each cell with at least one TS reserved for GPRS as minimum GPRS allocation, there
must be at time-slot minimum reserved on the Ater Multiplexed interface.
- Security split:
For security reasons, the time-slots assigned to GPRS should be spread among different Ater
Multiplexed PCMs (the data which do not concern GPRS will be ignored by the A935 MFS and

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transparently conveyed to the Transcoding equipment).

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However, when there is enough GPRS traffic to fill 2 or more PCMs, there is an advantage to
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dedicate complete PCMs to GPRS rather than mixing GPRS with CS traffic. Indeed, doing so
avoids1 connecting the A935 MFS to the Transcoding equipment, with Ater Multiplexed PCMs
not fully devoted to circuit-switched traffic, and thus avoids wasting transcoder resource.

6.2 Method for dimensioning the interface between the BSC to the A935 MFS
Each active PDCH is handled by one 16 kbit/s Ater Multiplexed channel. In order to calculate the total
number of Ater- Multiplexed time-slots to reserve for GPRS traffic on the Ater interface, one should
apply the following process:
- First, calculate the number of radio Timeslots (PDCH) statically allocated on all cells
connected to the BSC (equal to the sum of MIN_PDCH_GROUP parameters configured) (2).
- Then, assess the maximum number of supplementary Radio Timeslots (PDCH) that will be
dynamically allocated on all cells connected to the BSC, at the busy hour.
- The sum of the radio Timeslots statically and dynamically allocated on all cells connected to
the BSC, at the busy hour, will not exceed 240 PDCHs even if the maximum number of radio
timeslots configured by the operator (sum of parameters MAX_PDCH_GROUP), is
significantly greater.
- Then apply the Ater multiplexing ratio (1:4 in the general case, but 1:3 is also possible)
- Then add the number of time-slots required for the GSL signalling links. Please refer to
5.1.6 for more information.
- Finally apply the above granularity rule in order to determine the total number of Ater
multiplexed time-slots (64kbit/s) required.
For more information on the Ater dimensioning process, please refer to [5].
Remarks:
- Ater resources are reserved for the MIN_PDCH_GROUP PDCHs declared, even if they
do not carry GPRS traffic.

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1
2

Provided that synchronization rules are respected; cf. "A935 MFS Synchronisation" below
It is recommended to set to zero the parameter MIN_PDCH_GOUP in case of cells where the expected GPRS
traffic is very low and where the probability to have enough resource for GPRS is very high (typically in rural
areas). Indeed, otherwise this will generate too much resources reserved in the Ater interface, as well as in the
GPRS traffic handling capacity (cf 5.1.1).

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- The Ater connectivity of the BSC is sufficient in most cases to allow allocation for GPRS

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without reducing the speech traffic capacity of the BSC.

- Ater-multiplexed PCMs which do not carry GPRS traffic can be directly connected to the
Transcoder equipment, by-passing the MFS. Moreover, it is recommended not to carry
GPRS on the first Ater-multiplexed PCM so that it can be connected directly to the
transcoder in order to enable MFS installation without O&M interruption on the BSC.
However, it is possible to set GPRS time-slots on all Ater-multiplexed PCMs; indeed,
this can be useful in the case of configurations with only 2 Ater-multiplexed PCMs in
order to ensure better security.

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7. DIMENSIONING RULES FOR THE A935 MFS-SGSN (GB) INTERFACE

7.1 General dimensioning rule

The links between the A935 MFS and the SGSN or between the MSC and the SGSN can be direct
point to point physical connections, or an intermediate Frame Relay Network can be traversed.
The peak throughput of the Gb interface is equal to the peak IP throughput multiplied by an overhead
factor which takes into account the Gb interface overheads.
This overhead factor depends on the mean frame size.
The number of Gb 64kbit/s time-slots required is obtained by dividing by 64 (and rounding up)
the Gb peak throughput (in kbit/s).
Then one has advantage to reduce the number of bearer channels to 2 (for redundancy
reason) in order to take benefit from the statistical effect of using larger bearer channels. The
maximum number of Frame Relay bearer channels is 124 per GPU board.
For more information on the method to determine the Gb peak throughput according to the traffic mix
expected within the BSC area, please refer to [5].

7.2 Configuration rules

There are mainly two types of links between the A935 MFS and the SGSN equipment carrying the
Gb interface:
- Links going through the Transcoding equipment and the MSC.
- Links by-passing the Transcoding equipment and going either directly to the SGSN or
through the MSC: this is the recommended solution when the traffic is sufficient to justify
complete Ater Multiplexed PCMs from the BSC to the MFS. However, depending on the
hardware and software versions, one may not always choose this possibility because of the
GPU synchronization (please refer to 7.3 below).
The figure below displays the different types of links between the BSC to the MFS, and between the

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MFS to the SGSN

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A bis

A ter mux

A ter mux

BTS

PLMN
BSC

TC

MSC

BTS
Y

X
MFS

FRDN
Frame
Relay
Data
Network

BTS
Interfaces carrying
normal GSM and/or
GPRS MFS - BTS traffic/
signalling

Z
Gb
SGSN

Interfaces carrying normal GSM

and/or Gb traffic/ signalling
Normal GSM traffic/ signalling carried transparently through the MFS

The maximum number of links from the GPU board to the SGSN is 8.
In the case where an Ater Multiplexed interface carries both CS traffic and GPRS data, the MFS has
the possibility to split the traffic data on a link to the transcoder and a link to the SGSN.
Remarks:
- The links going through the MSC can benefit from the multiplexing capability of the MSC
in order to reduce the number of ports required to the frame relay network towards the
SGSN.
- One MFS can be connected to several SGSN units.
- One GPU is connected to only one SGSN.

7.3 A935 MFS Synchronisation :

With B6.2 Step1, the A935 MFS has to be synchronized at GPU board level, with redundancy.
Synchronization is coming from the transcoder .
With B6.2 Step2, the A935 MFS can be synchronized at telecom subrack level, with redundancy,
provided that the hardware version is compatible . 2 links will be needed per telecom sub-rack (that
is 4 links maximum per A935 MFS). For security, the two PCM links should be connected to two
GPU boards (one PCM link per GPU) from the TC.

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By default, the SGSN links are not synchronization sources. However, the SGSN links can be forced
by an operator at the IMT (Installation & Maintenance Terminal), as synchronization links with lower
priority than transcoder ones.

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In case of unavailability of all synchronization links (TC links and forced SGSN ones) an AIS alarm
2.048 Mbit/s is sent toward the BSC.

7.4 Links between A935 MFS and OMC-R:

There is an IP interface between the MFS and OMC-R. The throughput is 128Kbit/s if the MFS
handles up to 11 BSCs; if the MFS handles more than 11 BSCs, the throughput must be 192Kbit/s

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7.5 Abbreviations
A

BSS-to-MSC interface

Abis

BTS-to-BSC interface

Ater

BSC-to-MFS interface

BLER

Block Error Rate

BSC

Base Station Controller

BSS

Base Station System

BTS

Base Transceiver Station

CCCH

Common Control Channel

CS

Circuit Switched

CS-n

Coding Scheme n (n = 1, 2, 3, 4)

DL

Down-Link

ETSI

European Telecommunications Standard Institute

Gb

BSS-to-GPRS backbone network interface

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service

GPU

GPRS Processing Unit

GSL

GPRS Signalling Link

LLC

Logical Link Control

MFS

Multi-BSS Fast packet Server

MS

Mobile Station

MSC

Mobile services Switching Centre

OMC-R

Operation and Management Centre of Radio sub-system

O&M

Operation and Maintenance

PCM

Pulse Coded Modulation transmission line

PCU

Packet Control Unit

PDCH

Packet Data Channel

QoS

Quality of Service

RAB

Redundancy Access Bus

SGSN

Serving GPRS Support Node

TBF

Temporary Block Flow

TC

Transcoder

TRX

Transceiver

UL

Up-Link

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7.6 Terminology
Routing Area

A Routing Area is a group of cells supporting GPRS, used for GPRS Mobility
Management purposes, similarly to Location Areas for circuit-switched services. A

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Routing Area is a subset of a Location Area or may equal a Location Area. A

Routing Area can not contain cells from different Location Areas. Routing Areas are
defined in ETSI Technical Specification GSM 03.60.
Type 1 MS

Mobile Station not able to simultaneously receive and transmit. The precise
definition of type 1 MS is given in ETSI Technical Specification GSM 05.02, annex B.

Type 2 MS

Mobile Station able to simultaneously receive and transmit. The precise definition of
type 2 MS is given in ETSI Technical Specification GSM 05.02, annex B.

End of Document

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