Nokia Siemens Networks

Smart Networks for Smart Devices

The Smartphone Challenge

Starting in 2007, the amount of mobile data consumed globally exploded, catching most industry watchers and operators by surprise. As a result, the mobile broadband industry has since been focusing on meeting the needs of laptop users, with the main challenge being how to provide enough data capacity profitably. However, while all the attention of the industry was on the management of large volumes of data, a stealth issue was lurking just below the surface: smartphone network activity. The arrival of feature-rich smartphones ushered in a brand new world of data usage, featuring rich applications that were always connected to the network and let end users stay in touch with friends via instant messaging, Facebook, and other universally popular applications. Operators were pleased when they saw that smartphones were, on average, generating only about one-sixth of the data traffic that laptops were.

Then the trouble started. End users in the US and Europe started complaining that the quality of their voice and data services was no longer good. In some densely populated cities, the troubles were particularly obvious, and the end user complaints particularly loud. Analysis of the network traffic showed that surprise! smartphones were the problem. But how could that be? If the average smartphone generates one-sixth of the traffic of a laptop, how can they degrade the quality of an entire network? End users were also bitter about how short the battery life of smartphones seemed to be. The answer lies in the different ways that laptops and smartphones are used. Laptops consume large amounts of mobile data in big chunks as users browse web pages or download files. Smartphones, on the other hand, make many small connections to the network, carrying small amounts of data each time. Some push email applications, for example, can be set to look for new mails as often as every 30 seconds, generating many connections to the network, but not much data. Each time any device connects to the network, no matter how much data is involved, there is background signalling traffic that opens and closes the data session. All those little pings to the network, looking for

the latest Facebook update or instant message, that come from smartphones with their always-on applications, generate signalling traffic that is, on average, eight times as much traffic as laptops generate. While operators were dimensioning their networks to cope with large amounts of laptop-generated data, no one was dimensioning their networks to cope with large amounts of signalling traffic. And when the network elements that handle signalling traffic overload, they are no longer able to handle additional data or voice calls thus leading to the significant degradation of quality seen in many smartphone-heavy operator networks globally. In addition, keeping the smartphone in the active data transmission mode requires battery power. The longer a smartphone is kept in the active state, the shorter the battery life thus leading to user complaints about unexpectedly poor smartphone battery performance. This is the problem that faces all operators today: To ensure the quality of experience for all users by managing smartphone signalling traffic volume, while simultaneously ensuring the longest possible handset battery lifetime.

The Nokia Siemens Networks Solution

The Nokia Siemens Networks solution to the Smartphone Challenge lies in how it handles the different states of the handset (see Figure 1). As Figure 1 demonstrates, vendors other than NSN keep the handset when not in use in the Idle mode, which uses very little battery. When the handset connects to the network, 30 signaling messages are required to take the handset up to the active state to transmit the data and to return it to Idle again. Sending all of these signaling messages takes time, so the end user has to wait an average of two seconds for the initial connection. Because waiting two seconds is not a good user experience, other networks wait in the active mode for a while, just in case the user requests more data, so that the next response time will be pleasingly short. However, being in the active mode drains the handset battery. Therefore, some handset manufacturers have developed handset software (fast dormancy) that actively returns the handset to the battery-saving Idle state very quickly after data transmission to lengthen battery lifetime. Moving up and down from Idle to Active more often does lengthen battery lifetime, but it also generates more signals which the network then must manage. Nokia Siemens Networks handles signaling differently. To begin with, handsets not in use are kept not in the Idle state, but another state called Cell_PCH. In Cell_PCH, handsets use no more battery power than they do in the Idle state, but fewer signals are needed to move the handset into the Active state required for sending data: 12 signals for a large amount of data, and three signals for a very small amount. Because the number of signals is smaller, the latency is far shorter than in other networks that are sending 30 signals each time, and averages 0.5 seconds. This is an acceptable amount of time to wait for a new bit of data, so Nokia Siemens Networks networks are able to have shorter timer settings, taking handsets back down to the Cell_PCH quickly thus providing the same reduced

Figure 1: The Beauty of Cell_PCH

battery consumption that other networks achieve with fast dormancy. Fewer signals and a shorter activestate timer setting means that Nokia Siemens Networks, alone among all network suppliers today, offers operators both less signaling and reduced battery consumption simultaneously. In addition, Nokia Siemens Networks management of the Radio Network Controller (RNC), the network element that handles the majority of the signaling traffic, reduces the likelihood of network overload and poor end-user experience. Other vendors RNCs are typically divided into sub-racks, each of which handles a different geographic area. If one sub-rack reaches capacity, no more signaling traffic can be processed in that area, leading to the knock-on effect seen in several networks around the world where too many smartphones in a small area have reduced the ability of nonsmartphone customers in the same area to make even basic voice calls.

In contrast, Nokia Siemens Networks has a pooled RNC, in which the whole RNC element handles the signaling from the entire responsibility area of that RNC. The entire RNCs capacity must be exceeded before there are any performance issues, and operators only need to properly dimension one element to prevent problems, instead of dimensioning many sub-racks individually and risking network performance issues if they get even one wrong. Fewer signals, longer battery lifetime, and greater effective RNC capacity means that operators with Nokia Siemens Networks can offer their smartphone customers indeed, all customers the high-quality network and handset performance that they expect from their service provider.

Real Solutions, Real Results

Inspired by hearing Nokia Siemens Networks claim that their network supported a longer battery lifetime for end users, a CSP in the Middle East tested the Nokia Siemens Networks-provided network against another suppliers network in their region. They found that smartphones

Smart Networks for Smart Devices

on the Nokia Siemens Networks network had an average battery lifetime of 11 hours, while smartphones on the network from a different supplier had an average battery lifetime of six hours. The CSP was so pleased with their confirmation of the Nokia Siemens Networks statements that they agreed to issue a joint press release announcing their findings (see test results in Figure 2). Even more thorough external verification has come from Canada. In May 2010, Signals Research Group released an independent paper called, Smartphones and a 3G Network, which examined the differences in smartphone-generated signalling traffic and handset battery life between a commercial Nokia Siemens Networks 3G network in which the Cell_PCH feature was enabled and a commercial 3G network from another supplier in which Cell_PCH was not enabled (a different supplier from that pictured in Figure 2). Key findings from the report include:  3G network congestion is due largely to the high amount of smartphonegenerated signaling traffic which overwhelms the resources of central network elements, thus preventing them from coping with further data or even voice traffic.  Some of the most popular smartphone applications are also some of the greatest generators of signaling traffic, including instant messaging, web browsing, and map use.  Frequent keep alive messages can have a material impact on the expected life of the battery. An application that sends one keep alive message every minute uses the same battery power in only eight hours as keeping the handsets backlight on for a full hour.  An operator that has implemented Cell_PCH and selected appropriate network inactivity timer settings is able to significantly reduce the

Figure 2: Middle East CSP battery consumption testing of Nokia Siemens Networks performance versus another suppliers network

Figure 3: Nokia Siemens Networks generates up to 50% less signalling traffic in a live commercial network

amount of signaling traffic in its network while increasing the expected lifetime of the battery.  Overall, the Nokia Siemens Network-provided network with Cell_PCH enabled generated an average of 40% fewer signals from high-signalling applications than the other suppliers network, with a simultaneous battery life increase of 30% (see Figures 3 and 4).

The Signals Ahead report concludes that the wireless industry, including operators, infrastructure suppliers, handset manufacturers, and application developers, needs to

Smart Networks for Smart Devices

work together to address the signaling and battery lifetime challenges posed by smartphones. Nokia Siemens Networks agrees wholeheartedly with this statement and is proud to be leading the industry in its discovery of new smartphone-oriented modes of operation, not only technically, but also with developments such as its Smart Labs, in which new smartphone handset software versions and applications can be tested before release so that Nokia Siemens Networks can get ahead of the curve and advise operators on how to prepare for new smartphone challenges before they arise.

Figure 4: Smartphones using always-on style applications have up to a 30% longer battery life on Nokia Siemens Networks

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