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TELETRAFFIC ENGINEERING
TELETRAFFIC
THEORY
Teletraffic Theory
Teletraffic theory - the application of probability disciplines (stochastic
processes, queueing theory, numerical simulation) to:
planning,
performance evaluation,
operation,
maintenance
of telecommunication systems.
The objective:
to make the traffic measurable through mathematical models,
to derive the relationship between QoS and system capacity.
The task:
to design systems as cost effectively as possible with a predefined QoS
(assuming the future traffic demand and the capacity of system elements).
to specify methods for controlling QoS and emergency actions when
systems are overloaded or technical faults occur.
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Teletraffic Theory
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Teletraffic theory is an inductive discipline:
From observations of real systems we
establish theoretical models, from which
we derive parameters, which can be
compared with corresponding
observations from the real system.
If there is agreement, the model has been
validated. If not, then we have to
elaborate the model further.
This scientific way of working is called the
research spiral.
Traffic Concept
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Traffic in Circuit-Switched
Networks
Instantaneous traffic intensity (sometimes called
occupancy): measure of the occupancy of a servers or resources (the
number) at the time t, [Erlang]
( ) ( )
2
`
1 2
2 1
1
,
t
t
Y t t n t dt
t t
=

}
,
where - the number of occupied servers at the time t ( )
n t
Note! Traffic intensity is usually referred to as average traffic intensity
Average traffic intensity:
We usually use the word traffic to denote the traffic
intensity
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Carried traffic: traffic carried by the group of servers during
the time T,
Note! The carried traffic cannot exceed the number of channels, single channel can at
most carry 1 Erlang of the traffic!
C
A
The carried trac
(= number of busy
devices)
as a function n(t) of t.
We use the average traffic
intensity during a period of
time T (mean).
Traffic in Circuit-Switched
Networks
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Offered traffic: traffic which would be carried if no arrivals were rejected
due to the lack of capacity (theoretical, cannot be measured).
, where - average number of arrivals per time unit,
- average service time of arrival.

L C
A A A = Lost traffic (rejected, blocked):.
Note! the value of lost traffic is reduced by increasing the capacity of the
system (when the capacity of the system tends to infinity
C
A A
Example: arrival intensity is 10 arrs/m, average service time 2
minutes [Erlangs] 10 2 20 A= =
Traffic volume: measure of the total traffic carried in a period of
time or (total work done by a resource) ,[Erlang-hours]
Note! Losses are caused by inability to carry all traffic
Two main types of traffic are defined: offered and carried
Traffic in Circuit-Switched
Networks
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Traffic Variations
Traffic in circuit-switched networks varies according to
activity of users:
Traffic is generated by single sources - subscribers,
subscribers are assumed to be independent.
Traffic is characterized by two major components:
Stochastic variations:
Random generation of calls by subscribers.
Deterministic component:
nearly deterministic variability of number of calls over days,
weeks, months and even years (subscribers needs to make
more calls in a certain period of time).
Variations in traffic can be also split up into:
Variations in service times,
Variations in call intensity (number of calls).
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Traffic Variations
Number of calls per minute to a switching center
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Traffic Variations
Average number of voice calls per minute: 10 workdays averages
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Traffic Variations
Average service times for voice calls
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The deterministic variations in the traffic can be divided
to:
24 hours variations
Weekly variations: highest trac: Monday, then on Friday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.
Year variations: for example: very low traffic in vacation times
(July in Finland).
Very large-scale variation: traffic increases depending on
technology development and economics.
Traffic Variations
Traffic patterns looks very similar for different days:
Traffic patterns are similar during week-days,
Traffic patterns are similar during week-end days,
Traffic patterns are different during week-days and week-end
days.
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Mean holding time for trunk lines as a function of time of day
Traffic Variations
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Average service times for modem calls
Traffic variations
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Average number of calls per 24 hours to a switching center
Traffic variations
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Busy Hour
Questions:
When the peak number of calls occurs?
Is this peak the same for each day?
Time consistent busy hour (TCBH) is defined as those 60
minutes (determined with an accuracy of 15 minutes) which during a
long period on the average has the highest traffic.
Note! The highest traffic does not occur at same time every day.
Note! It happens, the traffic during the busiest hour is larger than the TCBH,
but on the average over several days it will be the largest.
Note!
We considered a traditional PSTN traffic
Other traffic types or other circuit-switched networks have their own
patterns and variations:
Dial-up Internet via modems,
Voice calls in GSM/UMTS mobile networks.
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Usual dimensioning rules applied:
~ 5 8% should be able to make domestic calls at the same
time,
~ 1% should be able to make international calls at the same
time.
There should be some problems:
Resources are shared with many others,
It is possible that a subscriber cannot establish a call.
Blocking Concept
The PSTN is dimensioned so that all subscribers cannot
be connected at the same time.
When it is not possible to establish a call it:
Has to wait,
Has to be blocked.
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Depending on how system operates we
distinguish between:
Loss systems: arrival is lost when there are
insufficient resources in the system,
Waiting systems: arrival waits when there are
insufficient resources in the system,
Mixed loss-waiting systems: depending on arrival
it can wait of get lost (the number of waiting
positions - buffer - is limited).
Blocking Concept
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Networks performance measures can be
expressed using:
Call congestion: fraction of call attempts that
observes all servers busy (the user-perceived
quality-of-service),
Time congestion: fraction of time when all servers
are busy,
Traffic congestion: the fraction of the offered traffic
that is not carried, possibly despite several
attempts,
Waiting time: mean and distribution in delay
systems (queueing systems)
Blocking Concept
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Simple Teletraffic Model
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Infinite System
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Pure Loss System
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Poisson Model
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State Transition Diagram
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Erlang Model
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State Transition Diagram
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Time Blocking
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Call Blocking
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Application to Telephone Traffic
Modeling in Trunk Network
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Binomial Model
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On-Off Type Customer
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On-Off Type Customer
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State Diagram Transition
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Engset Model
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State Transition Diagram
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Equilibrium Distribution
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Time Blocking
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Call Blocking
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Call Blocking
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Call Blocking
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Call Blocking
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Application to Telephone Traffic
Modeling in Access Network
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Erlang-C Model
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QoS in Lossless Systems of
M/M/C Type
M/M/C systems do not reject service
requests
If the resources are not available the
request is placed in the queue
Queue is assumed infinite
GOS is inadequate measure of QoS
Some examples
dispatch voice
low end packet data services (SMS,
MMS, e-mail, )
Relevant QoS parameters in lossless
systems
Probability of service delay
Average delay for all requests
Average delay for the requests
placed in the queue
90% delay percentile
Average number of requests in the
queue
Probability of a delay that exceeds
a given threshold
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Trunking Model for Lossless
Systems - Erlang C
Erlang C assumptions
Call arrival process is
Poisson
Service time is
exponentially distributed
There are C identical
servers (channels)
The queue is infinite
Common QoS
parameter in M/M/C
systems are
delay probability
average delay
number of users in the
queue
State diagram of M/M/C system
Probability of delay

= a
Erlang C delay formula
Offered traffic
0 1 2

C-1 C

2 ) 1 ( c
c
C+1

c
| |
( )
( )

=

+

=
1
0
1 ! !
1 !
,
C
n
C n
C
C
C
a
n
a
C
a
C a E

C
a
= Server utilization
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Erlang C - Performance Curves
Erlang C formula
can be given in a
form of
family of curves
table (Appendix)
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-1
10
0
10
1
10
2
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
traffic [erlangs]
p
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

o
f

d
e
l
a
y
C= 1,2,...,14;15,20,...,30;40,50,...,100;
Erlang C family of curves
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Erlang C - Summary of
Performance Parameters
Quantity Symbol Value (Formula)
Offered traffic a = a
Channel utilization
C
a
=
Probability of having no calls
at the cell site
0
p
( )
1
1
0
1 ! !

= )
`

C
k
C k
C
a
k
a

Probability of having exactly n
calls at the cell site
n
p

>
s

C n p
C
a
C n p
n
a
C n
C
n
,
!
,
!
0
0

Probability of service request
delay
( ) 0 Pr >
( )
( )

=

+

1
0
1 ! !
1 !
C
n
C n
C
C
a
n
a
C
a

Average number of requests in
the queue q
L
( )
a C
a

> 0 Pr
Average time that all call
requests spend in the queue
1
D
( )
a C
H

> 0 Pr
Average time that delay call
request spend in the queue
2
D
a C
H

Alternative notation
( ) | | C a E , 0 Pr >
( ) ( ) ( ) |
.
|

\
|
> = >
H
T
a C t P T t P
1
1
exp 0
Probability of delay
exceeding T
1
H average call holding
time
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Erlang C - Examples
Example. Consider a cell site supporting MMS service. Assume that the messages
are exponentially distributed with average length of 2 Meg. The cell site provides
two channels that have transfer rate of 200kbps. If there are 125 requests per
hour estimate probability of
1) Request being delayed
2) Request being delayed by more than 10 sec
Answers:
Call holding time: 10 sec
Average service rate: 0.1 request/sec
Birth rate: 0.034 requests/sec
Offered traffic: 0.034 E
Average resource utilization: 0.17
1) Probability of delay: 0.04940 ~ 5%
2) Probability of delay exceeding 10 sec: 0.009 ~ 1%
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