QoS and QoE management in UMTS cellular systems

QoS and QoE Management

in UMTS Cellular Systems

QoS and QoE Management in UMTS Cellular Systems Edited by David Soldani,

Man Li and Renaud Cuny © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 0-470-01639-6

QoS and QoE

Management in UMTS

Cellular Systems

Edited by

David Soldani

Nokia Networks, Nokia Group, Finland

Man Li

Previously Nokia Research Center, Nokia Group, Boston, USA

Currently JumpTap, Inc., Cambridge, USA

Renaud Cuny

Nokia Networks, Nokia Group, Finland

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester,

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Contents

Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xv

Abbreviations xvii

1 Introduction 1

Noman Muhammad, Davide Chiavelli, David Soldani and Man Li

1.1 QoE value chain 1

1.2 QoS and QoE 3

1.3 QoE and QoS management 5

1.3.1 Network planning 5

1.3.2 QoS provisioning 6

1.3.3 QoE and QoS monitoring 6

1.3.4 Optimisation 7

1.4 Organisation of the book 7

2Mobile Service Applications and Performance in UMTS 9

Renaud Cuny, Man Li and Martin Kristensson

2.1 CS service applications 10

2.1.1 CS telephony 10

2.1.2 CS multimedia telephony 11

2.2 Packet-switched service applications 12

2.2.1 Browsing 12

2.2.2 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) 13

2.2.3 Content download 15

2.2.4 Streaming 16

2.2.5 Gaming 17

2.2.6 Business connectivity 18

2.2.7 Push to talk over Cellular (PoC) 20

2.2.8 Video sharing (VS) 22

2.2.9 Voice over IP (VoIP) 24

2.2.10 Presence 25

2.2.11 Instant messaging (IM) 26

2.3 PS service performance in UMTS 26

2.3.1 General application performance 27

2.3.2 WCDMAand service application performance 30

2.3.3 EDGE and service application performance 35

2.3.4 Multiradio environments and application performance 37

2.3.5 Transport Protocol performance in wireless 38

References 39

3 QoS in 3GPP Releases 97/98, 99, 5, 6 and 7 41

Anna Sillanpa¨a¨ and David Soldani

3.1 Where does QoS come from? 41

3.1.1 Application and bearer service categorisation 42

3.1.2 GPRS network architecture 43

3.1.3 A/Gb and Iu mode 45

3.1.4 QoS in transport network 46

3.1.5 ETSI and 3GPP 47

3.1.6 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 50

3.1.7 GSM Association (GSMA) 52

3.1.8 ITU-WARC and spectrum allocation 52

3.2 QoS concept and architecture 54

3.2.1 Releases 97 and 98 (R97/98) 55

3.2.2 Release 99 (R99) 57

3.2.3 Release 5 (R5) 68

3.2.4 Release 6 (R6) 74

3.2.5 Release 7 (R7) 87

References 89

4 Packet Data Transfer in UMTS Cellular Networks 91

David Soldani and Paolo Zanier

4.1 Packet data transfer across EGPRS networks 91

4.1.1 User plane protocols 91

4.1.2 Control plane protocols 96

4.1.3 Radio channels and frame structure 97

4.1.4 Mapping of packet data channels 102

4.2 Packet data transfer across WCDMAnetworks 103

4.2.1 User plane protocol stack 104

4.2.2 Control plane protocol stack 107

4.2.3 Radio interface protocol architecture and logical channels 109

4.2.4 Radio Resource Control Protocol states and state

transitions 111

4.2.5 Transport and physical channels 113

4.3 Introduction to high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) 124

4.3.1 Concept description 124

vi Contents

4.3.2 Protocol architecture 125

4.3.3 Radio channel structure 126

4.3.4 Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) and multicode

transmission 127

4.3.5 Link adaptation 128

4.3.6 Fast hybrid ARQ 130

4.3.7 Iub data transfer and flow control 131

4.3.8 MAC-hs packet scheduler 132

4.4 Introduction to high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) 133

4.4.1 Physical layer models for HSUPA134

4.4.2 Protocol architecture 135

4.4.3 HARQ protocol 137

4.4.4 Node B controlled scheduling 137

4.4.5 Non-scheduled transmissions 139

References 139

5 QoS Functions in Access Networks 141

David Soldani, Paolo Zanier, Uwe Schwarz, Jaroslav Uher,

Svetlana Chemiakina, Sandro Grech, Massimo Barazzetta and

Mariagrazia Squeo

5.1 QoS management functions in GERAnetworks 142

5.1.1 Radio interface 142

5.1.2 QoS differentiation in R97/98 EGPRS radio access

networks 145

5.1.3 QoS differentiation in R99 or later EGPRS radio access

networks 148

5.1.4 Handovers and cell reselection in 2G networks 151

5.2 QoS management functions in UTRAnetworks 158

5.2.1 Admission control 158

5.2.2 Packet (bit rate) scheduler 160

5.2.3 Load control 163

5.2.4 Power control 164

5.2.5 Handover control 164

5.2.6 Capacity gains of service differentiation in UTRAN 177

5.3 HSDPAwith QoS differentiation 179

5.3.1 Radio access bearer attributes 180

5.3.2 QoS information provided to MAC-hs 180

5.3.3 Setting the HSDPAQoS parameters 183

5.3.4 HSDPApower allocation 183

5.3.5 Channel-type selection and admission control 184

5.3.6 HS-DSCH release for inactivity 186

5.3.7 Overload control with DCH and HS-DSCH users 186

5.3.8 HSDPAhandover algorithm with QoS differentiation 187

Contents vii

5.3.9 Flow control algorithm in Node B and RNC handling of

Iub congestion 187

5.3.10 Packet scheduler 188

5.4 HSUPAwith QoS differentiation 190

5.4.1 QoS control 191

5.4.2 HSUPAdynamic resource handling 192

5.4.3 Simulation results 194

5.5 Service performance in UTRA-GERA networks 195

5.5.1 Service control 195

5.5.2 QoS renegotiation 196

5.5.3 Handover/Cell reselection performance for PS services 196

5.5.4 Handover performance for CS services 199

5.5.5 Service performance and terminal capabilities 199

5.5.6 Load balancing between GSM and WCDMA201

5.6 3GPP–WLAN inter-working 201

5.6.1 QoS and QoE aspects in 3GPP–WLAN inter-working 204

References 206

6 QoS Functions in Core and Backbone Networks 209

Renaud Cuny, Heikki Almay, Luis Alberto Pen˜a Sierra and Jani Lakkakorpi

6.1 Circuit-switched QoS 209

6.1.1 Architecture of the circuit-switched core network 209

6.1.2 Circuit-switched services 210

6.1.3 Factors affecting the quality of circuit-switched services 211

6.1.4 Circuit-switched core and the 3GPP QoS concept 211

6.1.5 QoS mechanisms in the circuit-switched core 212

6.2 Packet-switched core QoS 213

6.2.1 Session management 213

6.2.2 Intelligent edge concept (change for QoS control in

packet core) 215

6.2.3 Packet core and high-speed downlink packet access

(HSDPA) 217

6.2.4 Traffic management 218

6.3 Backbone QoS 231

6.3.1 QoS is an end-to-end issue 231

6.3.2 Choice of backbone technology 232

6.3.3 QoS in IP networks 232

6.3.4 QoS in ATM networks 233

6.3.5 QoS in MPLS networks 233

6.3.6 Deriving backbone QoS needs 234

6.3.7 Need for QoS in IP backbones 235

6.3.8 Queuing and scheduling 235

6.3.9 Implementing QoS interworking 236

References 237

viii Contents

7 Service and QoS Aspects in Radio Network Dimensioning and Planning 239

David Soldani, Carolina Rodriguez and Paolo Zanier

7.1 WCDMAradio dimensioning and planning 240

7.1.1 Radio dimensioning aspects of UTRAN FDD 240

7.1.2 Avirtual time simulator for UTRAN FDD 251

7.2 High-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) dimensioning 267

7.2.1 Relevant radio resource management 267

7.2.2 HSDPApower vs. throughput 270

7.2.3 Dimensioning assumptions, inputs and flows 274

7.2.4 Numerical results 275

7.2.5 Impact on radio link budget 276

7.3 (E)GPRS dimensioning 277

7.3.1 (E)GPRS dimensioning procedure for CS and PS traffic 278

7.3.2 (E)GPRS dimensioning with capacity and bit rate

guarantees 285

7.3.3 (E)GPRS dimensioning with QoS guarantees 286

7.3.4 (E)GPRS dimensioning example 288

References 292

8 QoS Provisioning 293

David Soldani, Man Li and Jaana Laiho

8.1 Hierarchy in QoS management 293

8.2 Radio, core and transport QoS provisioning 297

8.2.1 Core network bearer QoS provisioning 299

8.2.2 Provisioning QoS mapping in the network layer 301

8.3 Service and mobile terminal QoS provisioning 301

8.3.1 Service QoS provisioning 301

8.3.2 Mobile terminal QoS provisioning 305

8.4 QoS provisioning tools 308

8.4.1 Configuration management in NMSs 308

8.4.2 Policy-based QoS management 309

8.4.3 Service configurator 310

8.4.4 Mobile terminal provisioning tools 311

8.5 Example of complete service management solution for NMS 311

8.5.1 Centralised monitoring 311

8.5.2 Efficient service creation and deployment 311

8.5.3 Centralised subscription management 313

8.5.4 Centralised device management 313

References 314

9 QoE and QoS Monitoring 315

David Soldani, Davide Chiavelli, Jaana Laiho, Man Li, Noman Muhammad,

Giovanni Giambiasi and Carolina Rodriquez

9.1 QoE and QoS assurance concept 315

9.1.1 Conceptual architecture 316

Contents ix

9.2 QoE monitoring framework 319

9.2.1 Service level approach using statistical samples 320

9.2.2 Network management system approach using QoS

parameters 321

9.2.3 QoE metrics 322

9.3 QoS monitoring framework 328

9.3.1 Performance monitoring based on bearer service attributes 331

9.3.2 QoS monitoring in BSS 332

9.3.3 QoS monitoring in RAN 336

9.3.4 QoS monitoring in packet core and backbone networks 346

9.3.5 QoS service level agreement 354

9.4 Post-processing and statistical methods 358

9.4.1 Data types 358

9.4.2 Probability model and key parameters 359

9.4.3 Distribution types 361

9.4.4 Calculating the confidence interval 363

9.4.5 Statistical confidence on measured data 364

9.5 Mapping between QoE and QoS performance 366

9.6 QoE and QoS monitoring tools 368

9.6.1 Introduction to QoE monitoring tools 369

9.6.2 Introduction to QoS monitoring tools 373

9.7 Example of complete service assurance solution for NMS 374

9.7.1 Centralised performance management 374

9.7.2 Active, service monitoring tools 377

9.7.3 Service quality manager 379

References 383

10 Optimisation 385

David Soldani, Giovanni Giambiasi, Kimmo Valkealahti, Mikko Kylva¨ja¨,

Massimo Barazzetta, Mariagrazia Squeo, Jaroslav Uher, Luca Allegri and

Jaana Laiho

10.1 Service optimisation concept and architecture 386

10.1.1 Conceptual breakdown of service and QoS management 386

10.1.2 Service optimisation framework and process 387

10.1.3 Benefits of intelligent and automated optimisation process 390

10.1.4 Optimisation using OS tools 391

10.2 QoS optimisation in GERAnetworks 393

10.2.1 QoS optimisation in GPRS radio access networks 393

10.2.2 QoS optimisation in EGPRS radio access networks 399

10.3 QoS optimisation in UTRAnetworks 401

10.3.1 QoS-sensitive parameters 401

10.3.2 QoS optimisation in WCDMAradio access networks 401

10.3.3 Genetic algorithms in QoS optimisation 406

10.3.4 Simple fuzzy optimisation 411

x Contents

10.4 QoS optimisation in core and backbone networks 416

10.4.1 Parameter optimisation 416

10.4.2 Routing configuration 424

10.4.3 GPRS core network and GPRS backbone troubleshooting 426

10.5 Service application performance improvement 429

10.5.1 Impact of parameter settings 430

10.5.2 Impact of traffic characteristics 433

10.5.3 Impact of flow control 435

10.5.4 Impact of performance enhancing proxies 436

References 438

Index 441

Contents xi

Preface

Wireless mobile networks have come a long way from providing voice-only services to

offering a proliferation of multimedia data services. Mobile data services are rapidly

becoming an essential component of mobile operators’ business strategies and are

growing very quickly alongside traditional voice services. For example, in the second

quarter of 2005, total average data revenue per month from leading US operators

reached $575 million – more than double the amount for the same period in 2004.

With the spread of WCDMAand EGPRS, availability of new services, functionality-rich

handsets and convergence of various technologies, this trend is poised to gain pace in the

future. According to a Yankee Group study, US mobile data revenue streams in 2009 are

expected to reach $15.9 billion.

Mobile office applications, browsing and multimedia messaging services (MMS) are

expected to be the major contributors together with many small contributions from other

current and future applications. The following list covers some of the revenue generating

data services available today and some to come in the near future:

. Short messages (SMS).

. Multimedia messages.

. Community chats, forums.

. Web browing.

. Email access, email to SMS access.

. Ring tones and graphics download.

. SMS votes, alerts.

. Interactive gaming.

. Video and game download.

. Streaming.

. Video sharing (VS).

. Mobile office (email, browsing, etc.).

. M-payments, m-banking, m-booking, m-brokering, m-ticketing.

. Proximity services.

. Push to talk over cellular (PoC).

. Presence.

. Conferencing.

. Instant messaging.

It is becoming increasingly evident that data are equivalent to ‘gold’ on balance sheets.

As the requirements for different applications vary, this growth of non-voice services has

posed a new challenge to managing their performance in more effective ways. This is

essential in order to provide best-of-class services to the end-user without overdimension￾ing precious network resources.

‘Quality of experience’ (QoE) is the term used to describe user perceptions of the

performance of a service. Quality of service (QoS), on the other hand, is the ability of the

network to provide a service at an assured service level. In order to provide the best QoE

to users in a cost-effective, competitive and efficient manner, network and service pro￾viders must manage network QoS and service provisioning efficiently and effectively.

Enterprises and network providers that provide superior QoE enjoy a significant

competitive advantage, while companies that ignore the importance of QoE may suffer

unnecessary costs, lost revenue and diminished market perception. Asurvey by a famous

consulting firm suggests that around 82% of customer defections (‘churning’ to the

competition) are due to frustration over the product or service and the inability of the

provider/operator to deal with this effectively. Moreover, this leads to a chain reaction,

because, on average, 1 frustrated customer will tell 13 other people about their bad

experience. An operator cannot afford to wait for customer complaints to assess the level

of its service quality. Surveys have shown that for every person who calls with a problem,

there are another 29 who will never call. About 90% of customers will not complain

before defecting – they will simply leave (churn) once they become unsatisfied. This churn

directly affects the profitability and image of the operator, especially if it happens in the

early stage of their induction. So, the only way to prevail in this situation is to devise a

strategy to constantly manage and improve QoE and QoS.

QoE and QoS management can be classified in four interdependent categories:

network planning, service and QoS provisioning, QoE and QoS monitoring and opti￾misation. There has been rich research and development in this field, and the purpose of

this book is to introduce the principles, practices and research undertaken in these four

areas. The book is intended for both academic and professional audiences.

xiv Preface

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the contributions and time invested by our colleagues

working at Nokia. Apart from the editors, the contributors were Anna Sillanpa¨a¨, Paolo

Zanier, Giovanni Giambiasi, Carolina Rodriguez, Jaana Laiho, Kimmo Valkealahti,

Davide Chiavelli, Jaroslav Uher, Heikki Almay, Noman Muhammad, Uwe Schwarz,

Massimo Barazzetta, Martin Kristensson, Luis Alberto Pen˜a Sierra, Mariagrazia Squeo,

Mikko Kylva¨ja¨, Sandro Grech, Svetlana Chemiakina, Jani Lakkakorpi and Luca

Allegri.

We would like to express our gratitude to our employer, Nokia, for general permission,

support and encouragement, and for providing some illustrations. In particular, Lauri

Oksanen is acknowledged for giving us the opportunity to spend several years in dealing

with QoE and QoS management issues in UMTS cellular systems, and for letting us

collect a part of the attained results in this manuscript.

The publishing team at John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, led by Mark Hammond, has done an

outstanding job in the production of this book. We are especially grateful to Sarah

Hinton and Jennifer Beal for their patience, support, guidance and assistance.

Ultimately, we would like to dedicate this book to our families for their love, patience

and assistance during this endeavour.

The editors and authors welcome any comments and suggestions for improvement or

changes that could be implemented in possible future editions.

David Soldani, Man Li and Renaud Cuny

Espoo, Finland and Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Abbreviations

16QAM 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

1G 1st Generation

2G 2nd Generation

3G 3rd Generation

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

3GPP2 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2

3GSM 3G GSM or UMTS

8-PSK Octagonal Phase Shift Keying

AAA Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting

AAL ATM Adaptation Layer

AB Access Burst

ABR Available Bit Rate

AC Admission Control

ACK Positive Acknowledgment

AD Access Delay

AF Activity Factor, Assured Forwarding, Application Function

AF-AI AF-Application Identifier

AG Absolute Grant

AGCH Access Grant Channel

AH Authentication Header

AICH Acquisition Indication Channel

ALCAP Access Link Control Application Part protocol

AM Acknowledged Mode

AMC Adaptive Modulation and Coding

AMR Adaptive Multi Rate speech codec

AMR-WB Wideband AMR

ANSI American National Standard Institute

AP Access Point

API Application Programming Interface

APN Access Point Name

ARED Adaptive RED

ARFCN Absolute Radio Frequency Number

ARIB Association of Radio Industries and Businesses

ARP Allocation Retention Priority

ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest

AS Access Stratum

ASC Access Service Class

AST Active Session Throughput

ATIS Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode

AuC Authentication Centre (Register)

AVP Attribute Value Pairs

AWND Advertised Window

BBS Broad Band System

BCCH Broadcast Control Channel

BCH Broadcast Channel