6/2/2017 LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsersWirelessMoves

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MyThoughtsontheEvolutionofWireless,FOSSandthePast,PresentandFutureofComputing

LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnected
Users
RecentlyIreadthisveryinterestingpostthatanalyzedhowmanyuserscanbeconnectedtoan
LTEeNodeBsimultaneously.Astheauthorsaysinthearticlethereisnosingleanswertothisas
manyfactorsareplayingintothegame.Fromapureuplinksignalingpointofviewtherecanbe
wellover1000userssimultaneouslyinRRCConnectedstate.InpracticeIwouldntbesurprised
ifnetworkssetthatnumberwaylowerasthatnumberisfartoohightogiveanyoneahalfway
decentspeedexperience.Sohowmanymighttherebeconnectedsimultaneouslytoabase
stationtoday?Letsplaywithsomenumbers.

ItsAllAboutState

BeforeIstartletsdefinewhatwearelookingforhere.Basically,anLTEdevicecanbeinthree
states:

Off

Itcanbeswitchedofforinflightmodeinwhichcaseitisnotconnectedtothenetworkatall.

RRCIdle

WhenitisswitchedonbutnottransferringdatathenetworkputsthedeviceintheRRCIdlestate
aftersometime.InthisstateitstillhasanIPaddressbutthereisnocontextforthedeviceinthe
basestation(eNodeB).Theonlythingthedevicedoesinthisstateislisteningtosystem
informationbroadcasts,takessignalstrengthmeasurements,performscellchangesandlistensto
thepagingchannelsoitcanreacttoincomingcircuitswitchedvoicecalls,SMSmessagesand
incomingIPdatapackets.Thisisalistenonlymodesonoresourcesarerequiredatthebase
stationtokeepthedevicehappy.

RRCConnected

WhendataneedstobetransferredtheUEestablishesanactiveconnectiontoaneNodeB.To
keeptheovertheairconnectivity,themobileandthenetworkhavetosendadditionalsignaling
dataperiodicallyeveryfewtensofmilliseconds,especiallyintheuplinkdirectionevenifnoIP
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6/2/2017 LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsersWirelessMoves

packetsaretransmitted.Thisisrequiredsothenetworkknowsthatadeviceisstillreachableand
togetinformationaboutthesignalqualityexperiencedinuplinkanddownlinksofutureIP
packetscanbecodedandmodulatedforthecurrentreceptionconditions.Oncethetransmit
bufferisemptyonbothsidestheconnectionremainsinRRCConnectedstateasthemobile
deviceandeNodeBcantknowiftherewillbefollowontrafficornot.Onlyifthereisnofurther
IPtrafficforsometimedoesthenetworksetthephysicalconnectionfromRRCConnectedto
RRCIdle.ThisstatechangedelayisconfigurableandatypicalvalueIveobservedinpracticeis
60seconds.ThatmeansthatevenifonlyfewIPpacketsareexchangedforasecondortwo,e.g.
foraninstantmessengerstatusupdate,thedevicestaysinRRCConnectedstateforovera
minuteandperiodicallytransmitsstatusinformationintheuplinkdirectionduringthattime.
DuringthattimethenetworkcansetthedevicetoConnectedDRX(DiscontinuousReception)
statethatreducestheamountofstatussignalingintheuplinkdirectionattheexpenseof
additionaldelaybeforethedevicecantransmitdataagainonceIPpacketsfromanappendupin
thetransmissionbuffer.

LetsDoSomeMath

SotakingtheaboveintoaccountletssaythatthemajorityofdevicesinanLTEnetworktoday
aresmartphonesthatgeneratealotofbackgroundtrafficfrominstantmessengersandchatty
otherapps.Letsassumethathappensonceevery4minutes,i.e.15timesanhour.Inother
words,eachdeviceisconnectedfor15minuteseveryhourtothenetwork.Itsoundslikealot
butletserronthissideoftheequationratherbeingtooconservative.Duringthattimeadevice
transfersalmostnodatabutitisstillconnectedanddependingonhowConnectedDRXis
configuredsendsmoreorlesssignalingdata.

Twoothernumberswerequireforaballparkestimationofthenumberofsimultaneoususersin
ConnectedstateatanLTEbasestationisthenumberofbasestationsinthenetworkandthe
numberofLTEdevices.WhileVodafonedoesntgivespecificdetailsItakeitfromtheirpress
releasesthattheymusthavearound20.000basestationsitesinGermanyfromwhichtheyserve
around40millioncustomers.Letssayoutofthose40millioncustomersthereare15million
LTEsmartphones.Thenumbermightbetoohighbutletsagainerronthehighendhere.

Inotherwords,15milliondevicesaredistributedamong20.000basestations,whichwouldbe
15.000.000/20.000=750devicesperbasestation.Eachbasestationhas3sectorswhichresults
in250devicespersector.Aseachdeviceisonlyactiveonefourthofthetimethatwouldbe
around63devicesthatareinRRCConnectedstateatthesametime.Assomebasestationsserve
moredevicesthanothersletsbegenerousandbumpthatnumberupto100devicesinRRC
Connectedstate.Whencomparedtothemorethan1000devicesthatcouldtransfersignaling
informationintheuplinkdirectionthereisstillareassuringlybigdeltabetweenthetwo
numbers.

Agreed,itsacrudecalculationbutitshouldgivegoodballparkestimationifhowmany
simultaneouslyconnecteduserswearetalkingaboutinpracticetoday.

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6/2/2017 LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsersWirelessMoves

February24,2016 Martin Uncategorized

2thoughtsonLTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsers

Christopher
February24,2016at6:25pm

Thinkaboutplaceswherelotsofpeoplecongregateandusesmartphones,e.g.trainstations,
sportsstadiums

Martin
February24,2016at7:43pm

Especiallysportsstadiumsareachallengeinpractice.Theonlywaytodoitrightistohave
lotsofsmallcellsinthestadium,i.e.properinhousecoverage.

Commentsareclosed.

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