RAN Efficiency Improvement Scheme for Diverse Data Applications

3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #75 [R2-114273]Signalling Overhead of Diverse Data Applications over LTE (Intel) [R2-114274]Traces of Diverse Data Applications over LTE network for eDDA Evaluation Framework (Intel) [R2-114308]RAN Efficiency Improvement Schemes (Renesas Mobile Europe)

Tzu-Chun Luo 2011.10.19

Outline
Introduction Signalling Overhead Calculation Trace Analysis Potential Scheme Conclusion

Introduction
Diverse data application(DDA) : Many devices(e.g. smartphone, tablet) are capable of running a wide variety of data applications, often in parallel. Such a diversity in device and application type creates a corresponding diversity in the traffic profiles that must be efficiently supported by the radio access networks(RAN) on which they run Numerous applications require that an always-on experience is seamlessly delivered and presented to the end user
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DDA work item

Those applications may be designed without consideration of the characteristics of cellular networks, and consequently may exhibit traffic profiles not well suited to those connections. Objective
Identify and specify mechanisms at the RAN level that enhance the ability of LTE to handle diverse traffic profiles. Enhancements may be applicable to E-UTRAN, the UE or both, and should encompass both FDD and TDD modes

Signalling Overhead Calculation

One of the key metrics of the evaluation for eDDA WI is the signalling overhead(for RRC connection) To get an understanding of the signalling overhead seen over LTE networks, we followed the following methodology
Measure the number of RRC messages exchanged by an LTE modem when setting up an RRC connection Collect sample traces of packet arrival patterns over LTE network Apply a range of values of Idle inactivity timer to the traces to obtain rate of RRC state change events and the ratio of data exchanged to the signalling overhead 5

Details of over-the-air RRC messages exchanged

RRC message exchanged during RRC_Idle RRC_Coonected Service Request RRC Connection Setup RRC Connection Request Length in bytes 18 51 31

RRC Connection Setup Complete 32 Security Mode Command Security Mode Complete 28 27

RRC Connection Reconfiguration

RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete Total

81
27 295

Signalling Overhead Calculation

RRC message exchanged during RRC_Connection RRC_Idle RRC Connection Release

Length in bytes 28

Total

28

The messages exchanged over the EMM and between packet gateway do not include
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Trace Analysis
Experimental setup consisted of an LTE smart phone device and a software tool installed on the phone to capture layer 3 packets exchanged through the phones LTE interface Background traffic : Skype, Gtalk, Stock update, Twitter, Weather and News Active session : Safari, Android Market App and YouTube All the different traces were obtained from the same location with no mobility
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Active user traffic vs. background traffic

CDFs of Packet Interarrival Times 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6
CDF

CDFs of Packet Sizes 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

CDF
Active User Only Background Traffic Active User + Background Traffic

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Active User Only Background Active User + Background Traffic 0 500 Packet Size (bytes) 1000 1500

20

40

60

80 100 120 Interarrival Time(ms)

140

160

180

200

It doesnt make much difference when applications run in background with an active session
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Trace for background traffic

CDF Packet Interarrival Times 1 0.9 0.8 0.7
CDF Points

0.6

CDF

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

10% 30%

50% 70% 90%

Inter Arrival Times (ms) (+/5%) 1 7 60 200 925

100

200

300

400 500 600 Interarrival Time (ms)

700

800

900

1000

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Trace for multiple background applications

CDF of Packet Sizes 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6
CDF

CDF Points 90% minimum

Packet Size (bytes) 100 (+/- 5%) 68

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

100

200

300

The packet sizes are generally very small ranging from 68 to 100 bytes for 90% of all the packets
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400 500 600 Packet Size (bytes)

700

800

900

1000

Analysis of Specific background application traffic

CDF of Packet Interarrival Times 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6

CDF

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

All Background Skype

20

40

60

80 100 120 Interarrival Time (ms)

140

160

180

200

Single vs. multiple background application makes a big difference in the CDF of packet inter-arrival times 12

Impact of Signalling Overhead

For a user running a active session using Safari

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Impact of Signalling Overhead

For a user running multiple apps in background

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Impact of Signalling Overhead

For a user running an active session with multiple apps in background

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Potential Scheme
R2-114308 discusses low data rate application and MTC(Machine Type Communication) small data transmission Potential schemes to improve the LTE RAN efficiency
Always-On in RRC_Connected State Making use of RRC_Idle mode Tx/Rx

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Always-On in RRC_Connected State

Straightforward : to keep UE always in RRC_Connected State and never release the UE to RRC_Idle State Advantage : reduce the signalling overhead between RRC_Connected and RRC_Idle transitions Drawback :
RAN resource(e.g. C-RNTI resources, CQI/SR/SRS resources, memory used for UE context) are reserved Power consumption to keep RRC_Connected(e.g. PDCCH monitoring, radio link monitoring, time/frequency synchronization, RRM/CSI measurement, UL TA maintenance) 17

Always-On in RRC_Connected State

Solution : DRX, s-Measure
In DRX mode, UE is allowed to decrease the frequency of PDCCH monitoring S-Measure allows such control over RRM/CSI management can be configured to be aperiodical

But UE still needs to retain downlink timing/frequency synchronization and possible uplink timing, Since there can be a relatively long interval between packet transmission, the cost seems not so desirable
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Making use of RRC_Idle mode Tx/Rx

Transmit and receive data in RRC_Idle state UL transmission : use RACH Msg3 to carry a small packet, then eNB can directly reject the RRC connection setup request Advantage : the security activation procedure, SRB/DRB setup procedure, and RRC connection release procedure will not be needed Drawback :
No integrity protection and ciphering Delay due to RACH contention No ack, the applications need to be based on UDP

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RACH procedure with small data transmission

Implicit or explicit infrequent small data transmission indication of the MTC device: e.g. priority, size, type etc.

MTC Device

eNB

Random Access Preamble

Implicit or explicit indication on the data source and type etc.

Random Access Response

2
Upon receiving the infrequent small data transmission from the MTC devices, eNB sends the RRC connection rejection message to UE with cause value of the offline small data transmission. It also acknowledges the MTCs small data transmission at eNB.

Scheduled Transmission

Contention Resolution

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Making use of RRC_Idle mode Tx/Rx

DL transmission : MBMS service can be reused Advantage : DL data transmission could for group of UEs and more signalling are saved Drawback :
eNB can not transmit DL data to individual UEs No ack No integrity protection and ciphering

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Conclusion
R2-114273:Signalling Overhead of DDA over LTE
Proposal 1: We propose to investigate and develop efficient mechanisms to reduce the signalling overhead when running background traffic

R2-114274:Traces of DDA over LTE network for eDDA evaluation framework

Proposal 1: The data shows that background traffic is significantly different from active user traffic (HTTP, FTP etc.). We recommend either using traces or developing a model based upon traces for multiple applications running in the background. Proposal 2: We recommend using Table 1 and Table 2 as a baseline to compare against any other sample traces for the case of user running background traffic. Proposal 3: For eDDA simulation framework, a specific mix of background applications must be decided to obtain consistent traces.
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