Product version Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

V100R001
Product name: WCDMA RNP

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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Prepared by Reviewed by Reviewed by Approved by

URNP-SANA

Date Date Date Date

2003-08-21

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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Revision Record
Date 2003-08-21 2003-09-03 Revision version 1.00 1.10 Change Description Initial transmittal Revision based on review opinions Author Zhou Xinjie Zhou Xinjie

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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Table of Contents
1 Overview .................................................................................................................................. 6 2 RNC Area Planning Procudures .............................................................................................. 7 3 RNC Area Restriction Factor Analysis ..................................................................................... 8 3.1 RNC Processing Capability Restriction.............................................................................. 9 3.2 Administration Area Restriction ........................................................................................ 11 3.3 Transmission Interface Restriction ................................................................................... 12 3.4 Core Network (CN) Capacity Restriction ......................................................................... 12 3.5 Reserving Resource for Network Expansion ................................................................... 12 4 RNC Area Planning Rule ....................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Continuous Coverage Rule .............................................................................................. 16 4.2 Reducing Signaling/Data Traffic between RNCs ............................................................. 17 4.3 Traffic Balancing............................................................................................................... 17 5 Summary of Pending Problems ............................................................................................. 18

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List of Figures
Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Location of RNC in the network and the peripheral interfaces .................................... 6 RNC area planning procedures.................................................................................... 8 Scheme 1: Before expansion ..................................................................................... 13 Scheme 1: After expansion ........................................................................................ 13 Scheme 2: Before expansion ..................................................................................... 14 Scheme 2: After expansion ........................................................................................ 14 Scheme 3: Before expansion ..................................................................................... 15 Scheme 3: After expansion ........................................................................................ 15 RNC area planning: continuous coverage ................................................................. 16 RNC area planning: Discontinuous coverage .................................................. 17 RNC area planning: traffic balanced................................................................. 18 RNC area planning: traffic unbalanced............................................................. 18

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

Key words: WCDMA, RNC area, network planning Abstract: This document introduces RNC area planning in the WCDMA radio network planning, including the definition, identification, functions of RNC area, as well as the RNC area planning process, the factors determining the RNC area size and other issues to be discussed in the RNC area planning. List of abbreviations: Abbreviations RNP WCDMA PLMN UTRAN RNC GSM BSC CRNC SRNC WRBS WFMR WOSE WXIE Full spelling Radio Network Planning Wideband Code Division Multiple Access Public Land Mobile Network UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network Radio Network Controller Global System for Mobile communications Base Station Controller Control RNC Serving RNC WCDMA RNC Business Subrack WCDMA RNC radio frame processing board WCDMA RNC Single mode Optical interface board of E1/T1 WCDMA RNC general E1/T1 Interface board

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Overview
RNC (Radio Network Controller) is an NE controlling the UTRAN radio resources, just like the BSC in the GSM system. The RNC is connected to the NobeB, 3G CN (including 3G MSC and 3G SGSN) and other RNCs with the Iub interface, Iu interface and Iur interface respectively. The RNC mainly implements the L2 processing and RRC processing of the Uu interface, as well as the control plane and user plane processing of the Iu/Iub/Iur interface, implements connection and disconnection, and realizes the radio resource management functions of handover, power control and call admission.

Figure 1

Location of RNC in the network and the peripheral interfaces

RNC area refers to a radio coverage area [1] composed of one or more cells controlled by the same RNC. Different RNCs are identified by RNC-Id. The RNC-Id together with the PLMN-Id uniquely identifies an RNC in the whole world, that means, Global RNC-Id = PLMN-Id + RNC-Id RNC-Id or Global RNC-Id is used to identify an RNC in the Iu, Iub or Iur interface. RNC area planning is to plan the number of RNCs within the coverage range, the number of cells controlled by each RNC and the coverage range of each RNC. The RNC planning, a part of radio network planning [2], is to plan the RNC area based on the planning result of the number of NodeB and the number of cells within the coverage range, the coverage range and capacity of various cells, as well as the interface traffic. For a complete radio network planning project, the final output of
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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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Network Planning Report of XXX Project should contain the number of RNCs for network planning and the dimensioning of RNC area. This document depicts the RNC area planning process and the relevant factors. Chapter 2 introduces the RNC area planning flow; Chapter 3 discusses the relevant restriction factors in the RNC dimensioning; Chapter 4 describes the relevant rules for the RNC area planning; Chapter 5 summarizes the pending problems.

2 RNC Area Planning Procudures

The RNC area planning includes the two parts: RNC number dimensioning and RNC area planning. The former part calculates the number of RNCs required according to the number of NodeBs, the number of cells, the capacity of each cell and the interface traffic (including interface type and the number of links). It is a part of radio network dimensioning. The latter part estimates the coverage range of a RNC according to the number of RNCs and the coverage range of each cell in the dimensioning result. As the coverage range of each cell is determined by means of simulation output of the network planning, the coverage range of an RNC area can be determined after the RNC that the cells belong to is identified. Input of RNC area planning: The Number of NodeBs and the number of cells in the coverage range, the capacity of each cell, the coverage range of each cell and the planned interface traffic Output of RNC area planning: The number of RNCs in the coverage range and the RNC-Id of the cells Figure 2 shows the RNC area planning procedures.

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

Start

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Determine the number of RNCs based on the network operation and maintenance organization structure The estimation result of traffic/flow/the number of cell/ the number of NodeBs
Calculate the actual processing capability of the RNC (traffic/flow/the number of cells/the number of NodeBs supported)

RNC processing capability

RNC cell split

Other restrictions (transport resource/CN resource)

Whether RNC specification supports?

Y The number of RNCs

Radio Network Calculation Radion Network Planning

Cell converage range/site distribution RNC cell division Actual geotraphic environment RNC_ID of each cell

End

Figure 2

RNC area planning procedures

3 RNC Area Restriction Factor Analysis

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Too small RNC area or too many RNCs will lead to more RNC relocation procedures, which increases the signaling traffic and call drop rate. Moreover, the over-small RNC area requires more transmission resources of the Iur/Iu interface, and it may have influence on the performance of the radio resource management algorithm. Therefore, this document only analyzes the restriction factors of the upper limit in the RNC area planning (ignoring the restriction factors of the lower limit in the RNC area planning.) The influences of over-small RNC area on the radio resource management algorithm are as followings: Because the signaling exchange between different RNCs has delay, and the bandwidth configured for the Iur interface is limited, the increase of the RNCs may lower the performance of algorithms, for example, the soft handover algorithm. On the other hand, if no Iur interface is configured between RNCs or the Iur resource is restricted, the soft handover between RNCs will be substituted by intra-frequency hard handover, which lowers the handover success rate. Some of radio resource management algorithms in the RNC are implemented with internal signaling of the RNC and not supported by Iur interface singaling. This results in that if the CRNC and the SRNC is not the same one, some radio resource management algorithms do not function. For example, the inter-frequency load balancing algorithm monitors loading of cells and issues commands of handover to some UEs to achieve balance among cells. The load monitoring is cell-oriented, and is implemented by the CRNC; the handover is connection-oriented, and is implemented by the SRNC. The command of handover based on load is internal signaling of one RNC and there is no relevant message over Iur interface Therefore, when the SRNC and the CRNC are respective ones, the inter-frequency load balancing algorithm cannot be supported.

3.1 RNC Processing Capability Restriction1

The size of the RNC area is mainly determined by some features of the RNC itself, such as: The capacity of the RNC (the number of equivalent voice users and the number of CEs)

The RNC performance parameters in Section 3.1 RNC Processing Capability are based on the BSC6800 V100R002. However, the exact operation should refer to the latest specifications due to the version update. Confidential Page 9 , Total 19

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The number of E1 links of the Iub interface that can be provided by the RNC

The number of cells supported by the RNC The number of NodeBs supported by the RNC

After the number of NodeBs, the number of cells and the capacity of various cells are figured out by dimensioning, the RNC areas will be planned according to these results. 1. Calculating the number of RNC2 based on the capacity of the RNC (the number of equivalent voice users, or the number of Erlangs or the number of CEs) Each WFMR board supports up to 250 of 12.2K equivalent voice users, each WRBS frame can be configured with up to 10 of WFMR cards, and each RNC contains up to 16 of WRBS frames So one RNC can accommodate 40000 equivalent voice users at the maximum. Based on the planned number of equivalent voice users to be supported by a RNC, the number of RNCs to be configured RNC_1 can be calculated as followings: RNC_1= [The number of equivalent users to be supported by the RNC /40000] Or RNC_1= [The number of Erlangs to be supported/40000] (if the number of Erlangs is provided in the planning) Or RNC_1= [The number of CEs to be supported/40000] (if the number of CEs is provided in the planning) 2. Calculating the number of RNCs
34

based on the number of E1 links to

be provided by the Iub interfaces. Generally, the Iub interface is realized with the WBIE or WOSE/WOME interface board in the WRBS frame. Either two WBIE boards or two WOSE/WOME boards, but not any mixture of them, can be configured in the same WRBS frame. One WBIE
2

In Huawei RNC, the number of CEs, the number of Erlangs and the number of equivalent voice users are equivalent for 12.2k, without any difference. 3 Here is the calculation based on the number of E1 links of the Iub interface only. The Iub interface can also use the ATM over STM-1 optical interface provided by the WLPU, which is seldom applied. 4 The Iur interface, a logic interface, can be connected through the fiber provided by the WLPU board, or through the E1 of the WBIE/WOSE board, or connect different RNCs via the CN through the Iu interface. It depends on the specific situation. In the calculation of the RNC number based on the E1 number, the Iur interface traffic is not 10-4-30 Confidential Page 10 , Total 19

WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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board can provide 32 E1s, and one WOSE/WOME board can provide 63 E1s. One RNC contains 16 WRBS frames at the maximum. Therefore, each RNC supports 2016 E1s at the maximum. Based on the planned number of E1 links in Iub interface to be supported by the RNC, the number of RNCs to be configured RNC_2 can be calculated as followings: RNC_2= [The number of E1 links of the Iub interface to be supported/2016] 3. Calculating the number of RNCs based on the number of cells to be supported Each WFMR board supports 16 cells at the maximum, each WRBS frame can be configured with 10 WFMR boards at the maximum, and each RNC contains 16 WRBS frames at the maximum, so one RNC can support 2560 cells at the maximum. Based on the planned number of cells to be supported by the RNC, the number of RNCs to be configured RNC_3 can be calculated as follows: RNC_3= [The number of cells to be supported/2560] 4. Calculating the number of RNCs based on the number of NodeBs to be supported When NodeBs are not cascaded, each WBIE board can support 32 NodeBs at the maximum, each WRBS frame is configured with two WBIE cards, and each RNC contains 16 WRBS frames at the maximum, so one RNC can support 1024 NodeBs at the maximum. Taking cascade of NodeB into account, one RNC can support 1280 NodeBs. Based on the planned number of NodeBs to be supported by the RNC, the number of RNCs to be configured RNC_4 can be calculated as followings: RNC_4= [The number of NodeBs to be supported/1280] 5. Finally, the number of RNCs required is MAX {RNC_1, RNC_2, RNC_3, RNC_4}.

3.2 Administration Area Restriction

The size of the RNC is subject to the organization structure of the operators network. Generally, the operator defines the networks operation & maintenance structure according to the administration areas. The RNC area planning should be consistent with the networks operation & maintenance structure. Please plan and set the RNC area according to the networks operation & maintenance structure after well communicating with the operator.

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Generally speaking, RNC is a part of the local access network. A RNC will not be used crossing the local network. So the upper limit of RNC area is limited by the administration area. Even though a RNC can support more cells with larger capacity, it can act as the radio network controller only, being limited by the size of the administration area of a certain level. This case occurs mostly in the area where RNC capacity is available more than required.

3.3 Transmission Interface Restriction

An outstanding feature of the WCDMA is providing more high-rate data services. This greatly increases the demand for the transmission resource of the Iu/Iur/Iub interface. If the transmission resource that can be provided at the location of the RNC is not enough, the processing capacity of the RNC will be limited, thus the size of the RNC area is limited. The transmission interface resource restricts the size of the RNC area as followings: The number of Iu/Iur/Iub interfaces that can be provided -> The number of E1s connected with the RNC ->Size of RNC area

3.4 Core Network (CN) Capacity Restriction

The CN capacity restriction means that the MSC/SGSN capacity restricts the RNC capacity, which further restricts the size of the RNC area. Generally speaking, if 3G MSC is used, the capacity of the MSC is sufficient, and will not restrict the capacity of the RNC. However, if the operator considers the factors of low cost and smooth upgrading, the 2G MSC scheme will be adopted for the CN. When the 2G MSC is connected to the 3G RNC, the capacity of the 3G RNC will be restricted. Generally, the capacity of the MSC of the existing 2G network is 400,000 of equivalent voice users. Suppose that the current percentage of utility is 60%, and in the remaining capacity 20% should be left for redundancy according to the engineering experience, so there is the capacity of 80,000 of equivalent voice users could be used for accessing 3G RNC. Therefore, the MSC will be the bottleneck of the system capacity. Because the Iu-Flex mode is not available now (It is the R5 feature, which can be hardly realized so far), it means one RNC cannot be connected with multiple MSCs. So the capacity bottleneck of the MSC leads to the capacity bottleneck of the RNC, which further limits the size of RNC area. The MSC/SGSN capacity restricts the size of the RNC as followings: SGSN/MSG capacity -> RNC capacity -> RNC area size

3.5 Reserving Resource for Network Expansion

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance

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With the popularization of the WCDMA network and the development of new services, the number of users and the requirements for the capacity increase year by year. The capacity expansion of NodeB can be realized by means of increasing the transmit power, adding module, adding carrier frequency and splitting cells. The capacity expansion of the RNC can be realized with one of the following three schemes: 1. Installing new RNC, with new NodeBs
3Com

RNC_1

Area_1 NodeB_A1 NodeB_B1 NodeB_C1

Area_2 NodeB_D1

Figure 3

Scheme 1: Before expansion

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RNC_1

Area_1 NodeB_A1 NodeB_A2

NodeB_B1

NodeB_C1 NodeB_B2

Area_2 NodeB_D1 NodeB_D2

NodeB_C2

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RNC_2

Figure 4

Scheme 1: After expansion

Advantages: A small number of RNCs before expansion, without influence on the existing NodeB. Disadvantage: Large traffic between RNC 2.
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Installing new RNC, with cutovering some NodeBs

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RNC_1

Area_1 NodeB_A1 NodeB_B1 NodeB_C1

Area_2 NodeB_D1

Figure 5

Scheme 2: Before expansion

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RNC_1

Area_1 NodeB_A1 NodeB_A2

NodeB_B1

NodeB_C1 NodeB_B2

Area_2 NodeB_D1 NodeB_D2

NodeB_C2

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RNC_2

Figure 6

Scheme 2: After expansion

Advantages: A small number of RNCs before expansion, and small traffic between the RNCs. Disadvantages: Influence on the existing NodeB 3. Reserving some RNC resource in advance, and adding NodeBs

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RNC_1

NodeB_A1

Area_1

NodeB_B1

NodeB_C1

Area_2

NodeB_D1

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RNC_2

Figure 7

Scheme 3: Before expansion

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RNC_1

Area_1 NodeB_A1 NodeB_A2

NodeB_B1

NodeB_C1 NodeB_B2

Area_2 NodeB_D1 NodeB_D2

NodeB_C2

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RNC_2

Figure 8

Scheme 3: After expansion

At the initial stage of network construction, the capacity configuration of the RNC hardware or that of the software License does not reach the maximum specification of the RNC. The capacity expansion can be performed by means of grand more license or adding hardware. Advantage: Expansion imposes no influence on the existing NodeB; small traffic between RNCs Disadvantages: Several RNCs are to be configured at the initial stage.
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Summarizing the analysis above, in order to avoid the influence of the expansion of RNC and NodeB over the existing network, avoid service interruption caused by cutover, and avoid excessive inter-RNC handover and Iur interface traffic, the third scheme is preferable. When planning the RNC area, reserve resource for network expansion according to the expectation of user and capacity increase. Then calculate the number of RNCs based on the maximum capacity/the number of cells/the number of NodeBs/the number of links after communicating and achieving agreement with the customer.

4 RNC Area Planning Rule

In the RNC area planning process, the number of RNCs in a local network is planned based on the restriction factors as mentioned in Chapter 3. In addition, please conform to the following rules when determine which cell to be included in a certain RNC area.

4.1 Continuous Coverage Rule

When planning a certain RNC area, the continuous coverage rule should be followed, that means to put subordinate all the cells in a continuously covered area into one RNC, avoiding discontinuous coverage of a RNC area (that is the area covered by an RNC is not continuous). This rule can reduce the number of cells on the edge of an RNC area, so as to reduce the RNC handover and increase the handover success rate, thus lowering the signaling and data traffic between RNCs, utilizing RRM algorithms as completely as possible, at last improving satisfaction degree of end users.
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RNC_Area_1

RNC_Area_2

Figure 9

RNC area planning: continuous coverage

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RNC_Area_2 RNC_Area_1

RNC_Area_2

Figure 10

RNC area planning: Discontinuous coverage

4.2 Reducing Signaling/Data Traffic between RNCs

In the planning of a RNC area, it is necessary to make use of the environmental factors as much as possible to reduce the signaling/data traffic between RNCs, so as to avoid frequent soft handover between RNCs. In the city with high-volume traffic, if two or more RNC areas exist, the RNC areas can be divided by the mountain or river within the city, so as to minimize the overlap among cells of two RNC areas. If such a geographic feature is not available, two RNCs area should not be bordered as parallel or vertical to streets or roads. Moreover, the boundary should not be overlap a street or cross the place with high-volume traffic (like shopping mall). In the border area of the urban and suburb, the RNC boundary should be placed at the base station at the side of suburb instead of the border are of high-volume traffic, so as to avoid frequent soft handover between RNCs.

4.3 Traffic Balancing

In the city with high-volume traffic, if two or more RNC areas exist, the number of cells and the traffic of each RNC should be balanced. This can avoid call admission failure or call drop caused by RNC overload and resource restriction, and lower the failure possibility of the equipment under high load.

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RNC_Area_1

RNC_Area_2

Figure 11
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RNC area planning: traffic balanced

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RNC_Area_1

RNC_Area_2

Figure 12

RNC area planning: traffic unbalanced

5 Summary of Pending Problems

The pending problems at present are as followings: The RNC processing capability includes the RNC processing capacity, the number of NodeBs and the number of cells and the number of Iub links, but does not include other uncertain factors with bottleneck, for example, the number of always-online users in the PS domain supported by the RNC.

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WCDMA RNP RNC Area Planning Guidance List of references: [1] 3GPP TS 23.002 v3.6.0 (Release 99), 2002/09

For internal use only

[2] Wang Mingmin, WCDMA RNP RNC Operation Guide Ver 1.0, RNS Subdivision of Shanghai Research Center 2003/04/23

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