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GSM Radio Network Tuning

GPRS/EGPRS Introduction

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GPRS Network Archtecture

PCU

Laptop

Server
BSC

Um
Gb
Abis

SGSN

Gn

IR or cable

GPRS
Mobile

Gi

GGSN

GPRS Network Domain

End-User Domain

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BTS

IP
Network

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Service Provider Domain

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The network environment can be divided into three parts: the End-User Domain,
the GPRS Network Domain and the Service Provider Domain. To achieve best
performance, all parameters within all three domains have to be configured
correctly.
End-User Domain
The end-users domain consists of a mobile and, if used, a laptop, Pocket PC or
Handheld PDA.
GPRS Network Domain
The GPRS network consists of the BTS, BSC/PCU, SGSN and GGSN.
Service Provider Domain
The service provider domain consists of the server and the link to the GGSN (Gi).
The response time and packet loss rate of the Service Provider Domain should be
as small as possible (i.e. RTT < 200 ms and packet loss rate << 1%).
Gb - Interface between SGSN and BSC (Frame Relay)
Gi - Reference point between GPRS and external packet data network
Gn - Interface between two GSN within the same PLMN
Gp - Interface between two GSN in different PLMN

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Multi Service Network

Messaging

PTT

GPRS/EGPRS
Network
MMS
WAP

Browsing
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Example: Web Browsing

Contributions to total download time
Client

Server

FTP Part

Signalling

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GPRS/EDGE Performance
KPI:s to monitor

Accessibility KPI:s
GPRS Attach failures, PDP Context activation failures, GPRS
Service access failures

Retainability KPI:s
FTP/WAP/Web/SMTP/POP3 transfer failures

Integrity KPI:s
GPRS Attach time, PDP Context activation time, GPRS RTT,
GPRS Service access time and transfer rates

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Example of GPRS Services can be:

DNS
FTP
WAP
Web
SMTP
POP3
...
RTT Round Trip Time

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Measurement procedures
Active
TEMS Investigation
WinMTR

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Passive
STS
R-PMO
RNO
GM Log
Protocol analyzers

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GPRS Protocols

Application
IP / X.25

IP / X.25
Relay

SNDCP
LLC

SNDCP

GTP

GTP

LLC

UDP /
TCP

UDP /
TCP

IP

IP
L2

Relay

RLC

RLC

BSSGP

BSSGP

MAC

MAC

Network
Service

Network
Service

L2

GSM RF

L1bis

L1bis

L1

GSM RF
Um

Gb

MS

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BSS

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SGSN

L1
Gn

GSM Radio Network Tuning

Gi

GGSN

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Throughputs measured on application layer means lower throughput than

theoretical maximum on RLC/MAC layer since other layers protocols OH like
error detection- and correction, re-transmissions etc. are included.
The RLC functionality provides a radio-reliable link while MAC handles the
access signaling for the radio channel as well as mapping of frames onto the
physical radio channel. The theoretical maximum data rate per TS is defined over
the RLC/MAC interface (in the air) and is dependent on the coding scheme
used. This is equal to the throughput as can be seen in measurement tools like
TEMS Investigation by which the air interface can be recorded.

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GPRS Radio Packet Segmentation

Application (server) down to SGSN

PH

User data

segment

Application
IP

segment

SNDCP

SGSN
FH

Info

FSC

segment segment

FH

BSS down to MS

data

LLC

segment

RLC/MAC

BCS

Encoding and puncture

Burst

Burst

Burst

Burst

Physical

20 m sec

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Throughputs measured on application layer means lower throughput than

theoretical maximum on RLC/MAC layer since other layers protocols OH like
error detection- and correction, re-transmissions etc. are included.
The RLC functionality provides a radio-reliable link while MAC handles the
access signaling for the radio channel as well as mapping of frames onto the
physical radio channel. The theoretical maximum data rate per TS is defined over
the RLC/MAC interface (in the air) and is dependent on the coding scheme
used. This is equal to the throughput as can be seen in measurement tools like
TEMS Investigation by which the air interface can be recorded.

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GPRS Logical Channels

TS0 TS1 ...

TS7

Downlink:
BCCH, Broadcast Control Channel

f1
f2

Downlink:
PBCCH, Packet Broadcast Control Channel
PAGCH, Packet Access Grant Channel
PPCH, Packet Paging Channel
PNCH, Packet Notification Channel
PACCH, Packet Associated Control Channel
PDTCH, Packet Data Traffic Channel
PTCCH, Packet TA Control Channel DL
Uplink:
PRACH, Packet Random Access Channel
PACCH, Packet Associated Control Channel
PDTCH, Packet Data Traffic Channel
PTCCH, Packet TA Control Channel UL

fn

BCCH
Master PDCH
PDCH

Downlink/Uplink:
PDTCH, Packet Data Traffic Channel
PACCH, Packet Associated Control Channel
PTCCH, Packet TA Control Channel DL/UL

Note: PCCCH printed in bold/italic

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DC
H
FP

SP
DC
H

SP
DC
H
SP
DC
H

CH
DP
D

CH

DP
D

DP
D

CH

Different types of PDCHs

Guaranteed resource
Dedicated over the air, pooled HW
Allocated on-demand, if resources exist

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A dedicated PDCH is a PDCH permanently allocated in a cell with associated

hardware in the PCU. This PDCH type is also referred to as a fixed PDCH.
A semi-dedicated PDCH is a PDCH that is permanently allocated in a cell but
not always activated, i.e. hardware in the PCU is not tied to the channel until the
packet switched traffic requires it. A semi-dedicated PDCH can not be preempted
by circuit switched (CS) calls.
An on-demand PDCH is a PDCH that is only activated and used when needed
under the condition that there is idle timeslots in the cell.
For a semi-dedicated PDCH, PCU resources (GSL devices) are assigned and
released in a similar way as for a on-demand PDCHs. This means that there is a
time-out handling (using the same timer as for the on-demand PDCHs) before it
is de-activated and the GSL device is released. If the value of the timer is higher
than 30 seconds the PDCH is de-activated and the GSL device released after 30
seconds. This maximum time of 30 seconds is to ensure that GSL devices are not
kept too long which prevents other cells from using them. For on demand PDCHs
longer times of the timer can be valuable to protect the channels from being used
by CS, but for semi-dedicated PDCHs this is not needed as they can never be
used by CS.
With the introduction of Semi-Dedicated PDCH it is also possible to reserve up
to 16 timeslots in a cell for packet data users as either semi-dedicated or
dedicated PDCHs.

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PDCH:s and Abis resources

Three different type of PDCH:s exists:
B-PDCH (Basic PDCH capable of CS1 & CS2)
G-PDCH (GPRS PDCH capable of CS1 to CS4)
E-PDCH (EDGE PDCH capable of EGPRS and CS1 to CS4)
PCU

GS
Gb

RPP

GG-&&E-PDCH:s
E-PDCH:srequire
require64
64
kbps
Abis
paths
and
64
kbps Abis paths and 64
kbps
kbpsGSL
GSLdevices
devices

ETC

GSL
GSL

RPP GSL
ETC
ETC

Abis

PCU Packet Control Unit

SRS Sub Rate Switch
GSL GPRS Signalling Link
ETC Exchange Terminal Circuit
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(16k or
64k)

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SRS
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A PDCH can have different capabilities (B-PDCH, G-PDCH or E-PDCH)

regarding what kind of GPRS/EGPRS traffic it can carry. In order to support
higher data rates for GPRS (CS-3 to CS-4) and EGPRS it is not sufficient with 16
kbps per TCH on Abis. G-PDCHs and E-PDCHs need 64 kbps GSL and Abis
connections. The needed Abis resources can be configured fully or partly during
Channel Group (CHGR) configuration. There are two different allocation
principles; fixed- or flexible allocation.
The following parameters are used for request of the wanted Abis resources.
NUMREQCS3CS4BPC is set per CHGR, and is used to set the wanted amount
of BPCs for a CHGR to be G-TCHs.NUMREQEGPRSBPC is set per CHGR,
and is used to set the wanted amount of BPCs for a CHGR to be ETCHs.TN7BCCH is set per cell and is only applicable to CHGR 0. It is used to
define if TN7 is allowed to carry EGPRS on the BCCH frequency. Note that the
parameter will affect all TN7 in CHGR 0 if Frequency Hopping is
used.Furthermore there is a parameter, EACPREF, that can be set for CHGR 0 if
the feature Single Phase Access is available. This parameter states whether the
TN0 on the BCCH frequency (the BCCH) shall be configured on a TRU capable
of receiving 44.060 EGPRS PACKET CHANNEL REQUEST messages in 11 bit
access bursts, or if the least GPRS/EGPRS capable TRU shall be used.

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Coding Schemes with GRPS/EGPRS

Theoretical bit rates!
Heavily depends on C/I

Modulation &
Coding Scheme

UL

DL

Coding
Scheme

Data Rate per

TS (kbps)

CS-1

CS-2

12

CS-3

14,4

CS-4

20

GMSK

8-PSK
(EDGE)

(GPRS Link Adaptation)

Data Rate per

TS (kbps)

MCS-1

8,8

MCS-2

11,2

MCS-3

14,8

MCS-4

17,6

MCS-5

22,4

MCS-6

29,6

MCS-7

44,8

MCS-8

54,4

MCS-9

59,2

(Link Quality Control)

All Data Rates are given at RLC/MAC layer!

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In EGPRS the RLC protocol is enhanced with the possibility to resegment data
within the same coding family. Hence, it is possible to retransmit a radio block
with a different MCS. The enhanced RLC protocol also makes it possible for the
receiver to store and use information (soft values) from previous transmissions of
the same RLC data block in order to increase the probability of successful
decoding. This is called Incremental Redundancy (IR). The old soft values can be
combined with new soft values from the same RLC data block if the RLC data
block has not been resegmented. The receiver will store the soft values until the
RLC data block has been successfully decoded.
The preferred mode of operation is IR and if a lot of retransmissions occur and
the MS signals out of memory in the Packet Downlink ACK/NACK message,
the mode of operation will change to LA (i.e switch to an MCS using more
coding). When memory problem is solved, the MS changes back to IR-mode.

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Coding throughput, CS-1 to CS-4

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Coding throughput, MCS-1 to MSC-9

60
MCS9

LA curve

MCS8

50

Throughput [kb/s per TS]

IR curve

MCS7

40

8PSK

30

MCS6

MCS5
20
MCS4
MCS3
MCS2

10

MCS1

10

15

20

25

30

35

GMSK

40

C/I [dB]

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Quality of Service R99

QoS classes are used to differentiate between users when

sharing resources.

One simultanious user per PDCH can not benefit from QoS.

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The QoS feature in BSS allows a differentiation of packet data flows per QoS
profile. The differentiation will be made between the classes:
Streaming
Interactive (3 classes with different handling priority called THP1 to THP3)
Background
The class Conversational is not supported, however it will be treated in line with
the Interactive class. The PFM procedures may be used when the SGSN has PFM
procedure support and the MS has PFM support. Otherwise, the R97/98 attributes
Precedence class and Peak throughput may be read by the BSS and mapped onto
the classes Interactive and Background.
The attributes in respective QoS profile are used to allocate radio time slots, to
the schedule the packet data on the radio timeslots and to choose modulation and
coding schemes for a MS. Dependent on the attributes, users will be
differentiated and get access to the radio time slots accordingly.
The throughput per MS also depends on the radio conditions and what coding
scheme is used. The QoS handling does not take this into account when
differentiating between the packet data flows.

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