Capacity Planning

ZTE university
Contents

 Capacity Planning Overview

 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Planning
 Channel Configuration
 Location Area Planning
 Capacity Increase Methods
Capacity Planning verview
 Capacity Planning Overview
 Before planning the capacity of a cell
network, you should first decided the
capacity requirements, namely, how
many subscribers will the system provide
services to, and how much traffic will be
generated. This is the basis for the
engineering design of the entire cell
network.
 The purpose of system capacity analysis
is to obtain data of the actual network
requirements and future capacity needs,
so as to estimate the amount of channels
needed in the system.
 Network planning is implemented based
on the early-stage and later call traffic
distribution of the system, calculated
according to statistical data.
Capacity Planning Overview
 BTS Capacity
 Refers to the number of channels
configured for a BTS of a cell, including
radio voice channels and control channels;
 Network Capacity
 Refers to the sum of capacities of all BTSs;
 Capacity Planning
 Refers to the process to plan BTS locations
and configurations based on the current
subscriber amount and development trends;
Capacity Planning Overview
 Erlang
 An international unit of measurement for telephone use, equal to
one caller using the telephone for one hour
 Busy Hour and Busy Hour Call Attempts (BHCA)
 The Busy Hour of a day is the hour with the largest call traffic;
 Correspondingly, BHCA is the call attempts in the Busy Hour.
 Call Loss Ratio
 If all channels of a mobile communications system are occupied,
then calls in the system will be lost or blocked. The call loss ratio is
the proportion of calls that fail to establish a connection due to
network congestion or faults.
 In the capacity planning of the GSM network, the GoS of the TCH
is usually 2% or 5%.
Capacity Planning Overview

 Erlang-B Table
 The Erlang-B modeling formula describes the relationships
between the amount of TCHs, Grade of Service(GoS), and the
total amount of traffic. According to the Erlang formula, we can
calculate the traffic under different call loss ratios and in
different channels, which can be summarized into the Erlang-B
Table.
1
 Traffic per user on busy hour 0       3600

 0 is the traffic of a subscriber on the busy hour.
 is the number of calls made of a subscriber in a day
the call time
is

 is the busy hour concentration coefficient(ration between

busy hour traffic and traffic of the day)
 In a common pre-planned project, the traffic per user on
busy hour is usually 0.025～0.03Erl/user
Contents

 Capacity Planning Overview

 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Planning
 Channel Configuration
 Location Area Planning
 Capacity Increase Methods
Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Prediction Methods

Population
Growth Trend Prevalance
Prediction Rate
Capacity
Prediction
Secondary
Growth curve
curve
Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Example: secondary curve
 To predict mobile subscribers, we can create an empirical formular
based on the subscriber development data of the previous years,
according to which formular we can predict the future subscriber
growth.

y  ax 2  bx  c

 x represents the year, and y represents the number of subscribers

in the mobile communications network.
 Input the number of subscribers in the previous years, and choose
constants a, b, and c with the least square method.
Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Unevenness of Traffic Distribution
 The call traffic is mainly distributed in middle and
large cities, forming a dense traffic area in the
city center, in which traffic hot spots with higher
traffic exist. The traffic is low in suburban areas
and counties.
 Necessity for Traffic Distribution Prediction
 If sites are evenly located during network
construction, then areas with a heavy call traffic
may have insufficient capacity, while areas with a
low call traffic may have redundant resources.
This affects investment result and network QoS.
To solve this problem, we must predict and
investigate traffice density and distribution. The
prediction result shall be used as the basis to
plan BTS location and frequency multiplexing
methods.
 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Traffic Distribution Prediction Methods
 In the early phase, we can predict the

geographical distribution of traffic needs

according to statistical data such as
population distribution, income level, vehicle
usage in different locations, and call terminal
usage in different places;
 Refer to data of an existig network in the
same region;
 After the network is constructed, we can

obtain a comprehensive report on the traffic

distribution of the network from the OMC,
which can be referred to during network
optimization and capacity expansion.
 Traffic density prediction methods
 Percentage allocation

 Linear prediction

 Linear prediction plus manual adjustment

Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Example: Percentage allocation
 Divide the service area into the high density areas, medium density areas
and low density areas (such as city center, common urban areas and
suburban areas).
 Determine the percentage of subscribers in each area against the total
predicted subscribers.
 Calculate the number of subscribers in an area based on the percentage
allocated to the area and the total predicted subscribers.
 Calculate subscriber density according to the size of this area.

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Contents

 Capacity Planning Overview

 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Planning
 Channel Configuration
 Location Area Planning
 Capacity Increase Methods
 Capacity Planning-Basic Policies
 Basis for Capacity Planning
 Correct prediction of subscriber capacity and distribution in the
planned area
 Traffic model for voice and data services
 Available frequency band resources, and selection of the adequate
frequency multiplexing method
 Ability to configure wireless system products
 Wireless environment and subscriber distribution features in the
planned area; site configuration for different areas
 Capacity Planning-Basic Policies

1 2 3 4 5
Traffic distribution Determine Site Type Determine Site Determine Site
Capacity Prediction
analysis and Configuration Quantity Locations
Capacity Planning-Capacity Needs Analysis
 System Capacity
 How much Erlang, or how many subscribers?
 The number of subscribers in each phase, or
percentage of subscribers?
 The system should have 10-20% redundant capacity.
 Capacity assignment of each city
 Given by the operator
 Check the population of each city, distributed
according to percentage+weight. Reference
site:www.world-gazetteer.com
 Refer to subscriber distribution of an existing network
Capacity Planning-Traffic Model Analysis

 Voice Service Traffic Model

 Traffic per user on busy hour;
 GOS；
 HR/FR；
 Data service trafic model
 User penetration rate of data services;
 Concurrent user activation rate of data service;
 Data service rate per user on busy hour (bps) or
data throughput per user on busy hour (KB)
Capacity planning—Frequency resource and
calculation of the largest BTS
 Frequency Resource
 Total Frequency Bands and
Frequency Points
 Frequency Multiplexing
 4*3 and aboveBCCH and the
minimum multiplexing coefficient to
be satisfied
 3*3
 1*3
 1*1
Calculate:
 Use of DFCA/GPS What is the largest BTS supported by 8 MHz?
How about SDR devices (6M+2M)?
synchronization technologies
 Needs system simulation support
Capacity planning—Calculation of BTS
quantity
 Estimate the BTS type and capacity according to frequeency resources and frequency multiplexing methods; the
number of BTSs needed can be calculated by the total traffic divided by the maximum capacity of the BTS
 Give the amount of BTSs in different areas for different phases of the network
 Give the number of channels configured in a cell/BTS (service channels and control channels), and the traffic
and number of subscribers they provide
 Give the total capacity provided by all BTSs, namely, total capacity of the network.

Network Scale Coverage Planning

Total Traffic and
Distribution Percentage

BTS Type and Quantity

Single BTS Capacity BTS Type Configuration

Start
Frequency Channel
Planning/Data Capacity of a Single Cell
Multiplexing Method
Services

Frequency Resources Erlang-B Table

Largest BTS Type
Traffic Model
Capacity Planning
 Capacity planning is the
preliminary planning.After
wireless coverage planning and
analysis, the number of BTSs
may be added or subtracted,
and BTS type configuration may
Capacity Network Coverage also need to change.
Planning Scale Planning
 Network planning is a process
that needs repeated rectification
and improvement. The number
of BTSs and BTS type in the
network should be determined
according to coverage effects
and network capacity.
 Capacity Planning
 Calculation Methods for Capacity Planning - Capacity Restricted Area
 Based on frequency resources and frequency multiplexing mode,
estimate the largest BTS type for different areas;
 Based on the traffic model and the Erlang B table, obtain the
capacity of each BTS
 Divide the total traffic by the BTS capacity to obtain the number of
BTSs needed
 Calculation Methods for Capacity Planning - Coverage Restricted Area
 For areas of different types, divide the area size by the BTS covered
area (estimated value) to obtain the number of BTSs needed tocover
the specific area.
 Multiply the area covered by the cell (estimated value) by the
corresponding traffic density to obtain the target traffic of the cell
 Check the Erlang-B table to estimate the number of voice channels
and control channels needed
Add the number of voice channels and control channels together, and
divide the result by 8 to obtain the number of carriers needed by the
BTS cell.
Contents

 Capacity Planning Overview

 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Planning
 Channel Configuration
 Location Area Planning
 Capacity Increase Methods
Channel Configuration

 CCCH, BCCH
 Each cell is assigned one BCCH
 Dual frequency network Co-BCCH
 SDCCH
 SDCCH Structure
 SDCCH Traffic Model
 TCH
 HR/FR
 PDCH
Channel Configuration
 CCCH Structure
 The CCCH contains the AGCH, PCH and RACH;
 The uplink channel sends channel request messages,
and the downlink channel sends access grant and
paging messages;
 CCCH Configuration Type

Number of CCCH message

CCCH Configuration
chunks in a BCCH multi-frame

One basic physical channel used by CCCH in combination with

3
SDCCH

One basic physical channel used by CCCH, not in combination

9
with SDCCH

Two basic physical channels used by CCCH, not in combination

18
with SDCCH
Channel Configuration
 SDCCH Structure
 Combined Channel
BCCH＋CCCH＋SDCCH/4（TS0）
 Non-combined (Independent) Channel:
BCCH+CCCH (TS0)+ X*SDCCH/8
(Timeslots 1-7 for BCCH carrier, or any timeslot for
other carriers)

 Grade of Service of SDCCH

 The GoS of SDCCH/8 is one quarter of the GoS of TCH
 The GoS of SDCCH/4 is half of the GoS of TCH
Channel Configuration
 Major Bearer Services of SDCCH
 Location update, periodical location update
 IMSI attach/detatch
 Call establishment
 SMS
 Facsimile and supplementary services
Channel Configuration
 Recommended CCCH and SDCCH Configurations

Numbe Chann CCCH Number Numbe Capacity

r of el of (Erlang)
Carrier quanti r of
SDCCH TCHs
s ty Channel Structure s GoS=2%

1 8 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+SDCCH/8 1 6 2.28
2 16 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+SDCCH/8 1 14 8.2
3 24 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+2*SDCCH/8 2 21 14.9
4 32 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+2*SDCCH/8 2 29 22
5 40 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+2*SDCCH/8 2 37 28
6 48 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+2*SDCCH/8 2 45 35.5
7 56 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+3*SDCCH/8 3 52 42.12
8 64 (1BCCH+9CCCH)+3*SDCCH/8 3 60 49.64
Channel Configuration
 TCH
 Half Rate Channel Open Percentage
 HR channel open percentage=number of FR channels that are
converted to HR channels/total FR channels before HR channels are
open
 HR channel open percentage=total open HR channels /total channels
(HR+FR) after HR channels are open
 After opening certain percentage of HR channels (such as 60%),
signaling load on the system may increase. To solve this problem, you
may need to increase the number of SDCCHs.
 Number of TCHs for voice services
 Number of TCHs=Number of TRX carriers ×8-BCCH quantity-SDCCH
quantity
 Number of TCHs after opening data services
 Number of TCHs=Number of TRX carriers ×8-BCCH quantity-SDCCH
quantity-static DPCH quantity
Channel Configuration
 PDCH Parameter Option Unit
Number of voice subscribers in a cell A
User penetration rate of data
B
services
Concurrent user activation rate of
C
data services
Number of data subscribers per cell
D=A*B*C
on busy hour
Average data service rate per user
E bps
on busy hour
Average data service rate per cell on
F=D*E/1000 kbps
busy hour
iEffective rate of the IP layer for the
G kbps
wireless coding interface
iCode percentage H
Average bearer rate per IP layer
I=SUMi(G*H) i=CS1～CS4,MCS1～MCS9 kbps
channel for each PDCH层
Total PDCHs needed per cellPDCH J=F/I

Assign dynamic PDCHs and static PDCHs

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Contents

 Capacity Planning Overview

 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Planning
 Channel Configuration
 Location Area Planning
 Capacity Increase Methods
Location Area Planning
 Location Area Overview
 The entire GSM network is divided into

different service areas according to different

location area codes.
 One location area may include one or more

BSCs, but it belongs to only one MSC; One

BSC or MSC may include multiple location
areas.
 The location area is the basic unit in the

paging range of the GSM system. The paging

messages of a mobile subscriber are sent in
all the cells of a location area
 The general principle of location area

planning is to reduce the location update

times to the minimum while ensuring a low
paging load.
Location Area Planning

 Avoid CBDs or areas with a large
traffic when setting location area
borders; set the border in areas with a
low traffic or areas of low-end
subscribers
 Set the border of the location area to
form an oblique crossing with the
road, and try to avoid the overlapping
of location areas in areas of high
subscriber mobility

Locattion Area
Division Principles

 The bordering sections of several  Considering the traffic growth trend, a

location areas should not be in a certain expansion margin should be
small area. reserved while designing the paging
capacity and traffic capacity of the
location area.
Location Area Planning
 Paging Principle Overview
 Two paging methods: TMSI paging and IMSI paging
 The policies for multiple paging resending are classified into
regional paging and global paging
 The MS calculates its paging group according to its own IMSI
 Parameter settings for the paging group quantity in a cell
 Reserved chunks of access grant BS-AG-BLK-RES
 Number of multiframes of the PCH BS_PA_MFRAMS
 Calculation of Location Area Capacity
 Number of paged chunks per second×number of paging
message per chunk＝maximum paging times per
second→paging times supported per hour→allowed traffic
per location area→total carriers supported per location
area
Location Area Planning For an existing
network, calculate
according to the

 LAC Capacity Calculation Example: background statistical

data!
For a new network, based on the following assumptions of the traffic model:
1. Average call last time: 60 seconds, namely 1/60Erl
2. 【Times of MS being called successfully (resulting in paging and generating TCH
traffic)+ paging times generated by short messages】/【total paging times+short
message paging times】*100%: 30%.
3. Suppose 75% of the MSs respond during the first paging, and 25% of the MSs
respond during the second paging. Then an MS can be successfully called after it
is paged 1.25 times.
4. Suppose the paging channel is congested after the paging traffic is 50% more than
the maximum allowed traffic, i.e., if no paging message will be lost before the
paging traffic reaches 150% of the maximum allowed traffic.
Please calculate: What is the theoretically allowed traffic of a location area
when the IMSI paging mechanism is used, AGB=2, and the non-combined
BCCH is used? What would be the result if the IMSI paging mechanism is
used, AGB=1, and the combined BCCH is used? What would be the result
if the TMSI paging mechanism is used?
Location Area Planning

Tips:
 1 frame=4.615 ms, 1 multi-frame=51 frames=0.2354 s. Suppose the
number of allowed reserved chunks for access grant is AGB, then the
number of paged chunks per second can be calculated using the
following formula:
For non-combined BCCH: number of paged chunks per second =
(9-AGB)/0.2354 (paged chunks/second)
For combined BCCH: number of paged chunks per second = (3-
AGB)/0.2354 (paged chunks/second)
 Maximum times of sending chunks per second (P) can be calculated
using the following formula:
For non-combined BCCH: P = (9-AGB)/0.2354 (paged
chunks/second)× X (paging times/paged chunks)
For combined BCCH: P = (3-AGB)/0.2354 (paged
chunks/second)× X (paging times/paged chunks)
Contents

 Capacity Planning Overview

 Capacity and Traffic Distribution Prediction
 Capacity Planning
 Channel Configuration
 Location Area Planning
 Capacity Increase Methods
Capacity Increase Methods
 Necessity of Capacity Planning Adjustment
 Change of subscriber behavior
 Non-linear affects of channel configuration
 The traffic model for different phases of network construction
should be analyzed and predicted periodically
 In case of traffic congestion, the traffic model should be modified,
taking into the consideration the traffic to be added in order to solve
the congestion.
Capacity Increase Methods

 Capacity Increase Methods

 Cell splitting
 Use denser frequency multiplexing
 Add micro-cellular devices
 Expand the frequency band
 Use half-rate channels IntraCell Handover

900M Upper-level subcell

900M Lower-level subcell

Review questions
 Question 1:
The geographical area of a city is 1436.4 Km^2, and the
area to be covered occupies 5% of the geographical area,
which all belongs to the MU. The population of the city is
about 59,000, with a user penetration rate of 60%(MU).
The operator can use 6 MHz radio frequencies. Please list
the network scale estimation process. The parameters may
be reasonably assumed according to common ZTE
equipments.
 Question 2:
Please give several capacity increase methods, and list
possible difficulties that may be encountered in the
capacity increase process.