Lagerstrom 060905

Analysis of Service Quality
in 3G Mobile Networks
Heidi Lagerstrm
Supervisor: Professor Heikki Hmminen
Instructors: M.Sc. Sami Vesala & M.Sc. Katja
Koivu
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Heidi.lagerstrom@omnitele.f
Contents
1. Introduction to the study
Background, research problem, research methods
2. Quality of Service (QoS) in UMTS Networks
3. Measuring service quality
Defining Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
4. Case study
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Background
UMTS introduces new real time services to mobile networks,

such as video telephony.
These real time services require QoS guarantees to function
properly.
For operators to maintain satisfactory service quality constant
network monitoring is needed.
Network measurements are based on correctly defined KPIs for
each service.
Operators possibilities to utilise QoS in
practice have not been widely
researched.
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Key Performance Indicators have not

been defined for the new services from
Research problem
How should service quality be measured in 3G networks
and how the QoS mechanisms can be used to affect the
service quality perceived by subscribers.
Objectives:
1. What are the KPIs that measure service quality, from end user
perspective, in 3G networks for the key services (AMR voice,
video telephony, video streaming, web browsing and e-mail)?
2. What are the QoS mechanisms in Release 99 and how can
they be used to improve service quality?
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Research methods
Literature study
3GPP, ETSI, ITU specifications
Several books and publications
Interviews
Network equipment vendors: Ericsson, Nokia
Operators: Elisa
Several other radio network experts
Case study
Field measurements for two
operators in live networks
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Contents
4. Case study
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Why do we need QoS?
UMTS networks support services with very different performance

requirements
Real-time services require performance guarantees
Customer acceptance closely tied to service quality
Optimal usage of network resources
Radio resources scarce
Cost-effectiveness
Return of investment
Service and user differentiation
Meet different needs of customers
(e.g. business vs. consumer)
Performance Requirements
Support different services
Sensitivity
Application
Bandwidth
Delay
Jitter
(real-time vs. best effort)
Video call
High
High
High
Competitive advantage!
Streaming
High
Med
Med
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Loss
Med
Med
Web browsing
Med
Med
Low
High
E-mail
Low
Low
Low
High
QoS Traffic Classes

Traffic class
Characteristics
Example
application
Conversational
Preserve time relation between

information entities of the stream.
Conversational pattern (stringent
and low delay)
Speech
Video calls
Streaming
Preserve time relation between

information entities of the stream.
Real-time
streaming
video
Interactive
Request-response pattern.
Preserve payload content.
Web
browsing
Background
Destination is not expecting the

E-mail
data within a certain time. Preserve File
payload content.
downloading
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Demanding
Delay
Jitter
Demanding
Bit rate
Jitter
Tolerant
Delay and bit rate
can vary
Integrity
Easiest
Delay and bit rate
can vary
Integrity
QoS Profile Attributes

R99 QoS attribute
Example value
Residual BER
10 5
SDU error ratio
10 4
Delivery of erraneous SDUs
No
Maximum SDU size (octets)
1500
Delivery order
No
Transfer delay
100 ms (conversational)
280 ms (streaming)
ARP
1, 2 or 3
Traffic Class
Conversational,
streaming, interactive,
background
Depends on
operators
QoS strategy
THP
1, 2 or 3 (same as ARP)
Maximum allowed bit rate
e.g. 64, 128 or 384 kbps
Maximum guaranteed bit rate
e.g. 64, 128 or 384 kbps
Depends on
the QoS strategy
and UE/RNC
capabilities
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
QoS Differentiation
Video
telephony
Streaming
Conversational RAB
Streaming RAB
Push-to-talk
Interactive RAB, THP/ARP = 1

Web
browsing
Background RAB
MMS
Each service gets the treatment it requires according to the QoS profile
Network resources are shared according to the service needs
Network resources can be used more efficiently
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
10
QoS Mechanisms
PDP context with the requested QoS capabilities
ATM
QoS
RRM
UE
Node B
RNC
Iu
Gn
3G-SGSN
UTRAN
Inter-PLMN
Inter-PLMN
Backbone
Backbone
NT
NT
3G-GGSN
PS Domain
Different
channel
types
DiffServ on
transport level IP
(ATM QoS for CS)
Firewall
Diffserv on
transport
level IP
Different QoS techniques in

different parts of the network
Appropriate QoS must be provided in every
network so that the user can experience Diffserv in Gi
good service quality
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Gn
11
External
ExternalIPIP
(Internet)
(Internet)
IP
TE
Operators QoS Strategy

Application
server
Node B
RNC
3G
GGSN
3G
SGS
N
Conversational RAB
Streaming RAB
Background RAB
HLR
User profiles are stored in HLR.
Each user can have several user
profiles, which correspond to
different services and are mapped
to different bearers according to the
operators strategy.
Operators can practise user differentiation by

giving each user set of QoS profiles, which
he/she is entitled to use
Operators can practise service differentiation
by mapping each service to the bearer that
meets its requirements
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
12
Meet the needs of different

customers
Offer each service the quality
it requires
Optimise network resource
usage
Contents
4. Case study
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
13
Measuring network performance
Customer
feedback
E2E
service
quality,
QoE
Network Performance Monitoring

Optimisation
Network statistics from different counters and interfaces
Application
server
Node B
RNC
UTRAN
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
14
Performance
statistics from
application server
3G
GGSN
3G
SGS
N
Core nw
External nw
Defining the right KPIs
Different services have different quality requirements

KPIs must be defined separately for each of the key services
KPI categories
Service Accessibility
Service Integrity
Service Retainability
With inadequate performance indicators and monitoring

Hidden problems in network performance and user perceived
quality of service
Poorly defined indicators may show better quality than in the reality
Incorrect formulas and counters
Unreasonable measurement periods
(too much averaging etc.)
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
15
Example: Voice Services - CS
Customer
demand
Indicator
Measure
Service
accessability
Availability & Coverage

Call setup success rate
Call setup delay
Ec/No, RSCP
Admission control
RAB assignment
Service integrity Voice quality
Noisy frames (FER),

MOS
Service
retainability
Handover failure
No coverage
Interference
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
16
Call drop rate
Example: Data Services - PS

Customer demand
Indicators
Measures
Service
accessability
Availability & Coverage

Access success rate
Service access delay
Ec/No, RSCP
Admission control
Attach, PDP context
activation, IP service setup
Service integrity
Video quality
Audio quality
Web page download time
E-mail sending time, etc.
BLER, FER, throughput,

delay, jitter
Service
retainability
Dropped data connection

Connection timeouts
Dropped PDP context/attach

No coverage etc.
Handover failure
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
17
Contents
4. Case study
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
18
Measurement plan
Operator 1
Operator 2
Drive test: AMR speech
Drive test: FTP download
Video telephony
N/A
Streaming
Web page download
E-mail
Data connection: attach, PDP

context activation, RTT, FTP DL &
UL
Tools: Nemo Outdoor, Optimi x-AppMonitor, Ethereal

Omnitele Ltd. 2005
19
AMR voice Drive test statistics

Operator 1
4.649
70
100
Operator 2
2.494
100
100
Soft handovers per call

Soft handover interval (s) ave.
Soft handover success rate (%)
10.33
7.901
100
10.38
7.953
100
Best active Ec/N0 (dB) ave.

Best active RSCP (dBm) ave.
Tx Power (dBm) ave.
-4.03
-79.3
-15.5
-3.97
-66.9
-29.5
BLER
Pilot BER
0.254
1.917
0.221
2.363
Call setup time (s)

Call setup success rate (%)
Call completion rate (%)
Reasons for call failure:

Ec/N0 was not at adequate level
Call setup was unsuccessful (unsuccessful RACH procedure)
Look at L3 signalling
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
20
Shoud be
~100%
Good >
-10dB
Good >
-92dBm
Good <
21dBm
CPICH coverage Ec/N0

Operator 1
According to Ec/N0 values

both operators have good
coverage. Couple of RED
areas, which need to be
further investigated!
Operator 2
If large interference areas are

generated, the problem could be
minimised later by adjusting the
antenna direction or height, or by
down tilting the antenna or by
slightly tuning the pilot power
levels.
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
21
Data Connection
8.715
9
8
7.188
7
6
5.227
Typical RTT in UMTS

network is ~200ms,
which enables good
quality conversational
PS services, such as
VoIP.
4
3
1.716
2
1
0.264
0.234
Operator 1
Operator 2
0
Operator 1
Operator 2
Attach time
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
22
Operator 1
Operator 2
PDP context activation time
RTT
Video streaming
In mobile phone display ~60 kbps streaming bit rate produces

good video quality.
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
23
Web browsing
Web page download time
Service access time

0.26
25
0.26
22.79
16.59
Time (s)
Time (s)
20
0.255
0.25
0.25
0.245
Operator 1
15
10
5
0
Operator 2
Operator 1
Operator 2
Throughput
Throughput (kbps)
200
150
Instantaneous
100
Average
50
0
1
Operator 1 Operator 2
Service accessibility (%)
100 %
100 %
Service access time (s)
0.25
0.26
Web page download time (s)
22.79
16.59
Service retainability (%)
100 %
100 %
9 10 11 12
Time
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
24
Sample web page 319 kB

Conclusions
In 3G networks QoS management is required

Real-time services require QoS guarantees
Need to support different kinds of services
With QoS mechanisms operators can use their network resources more
efficiently and gain competitive advantage
To maintain and improve the network performance and user experienced

service quality constant monitoring and performance follow-up is needed
Successful network measurements are based on correct KPI definitions
A combination of end-to-end field measurements, interface probes, network
element counter statistics and customer feedback is required
The measurement results show that there are big differences in the
performance of operators UMTS networks
Currently UMTS networks are not fully optimised there is a clear need for
optimisation!
Majority of 3G measuring equipment and terminals are still quite immature
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
25
For more information about Omnitele,

please visit our web site
www.omnitele.fi
Omnitele Ltd. 2005

2004
26
KPI Definitions
Omnitele Ltd. 2005

2004
27
AMR Speech KPIs
Parameters
Service coverage
Speech quality
Service accessibility
Codec usage
Service access time

Trigger
points
Service retainability
Place a call
Channel request
28
Speech interchange
T2
T1
T0
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Alerting message
ALERTING
Start of audio stream
Intentional
termination of session
T3
RELEASE
Video Telephony KPIs
Speech quality
Video quality
Service coverage
Video call setup

success ratio
Parameters
Service access time
Video call
setup time
Video call
Request
Alerting message
Trigger
points
Channel request
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
29
Audio/video output
T2
T1
T0
Audio/video
synchronisation
ALERTING / Call accepted
Audio/video output
starts
Intentional
T3
Audio/video
output ends
RELEASE
Video Streaming KPIs
Video quality
Service coverage
Parameters
Stream
Request
RTSP: SETUP
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Buffering message
appears on player
30
Streaming reproduction cut-off ratio

Stream reproduction
T2
T1
T0
Audio/video
synchronisation
Streaming
reproduction
start delay
Service access time

Trigger
points
Audio quality
Streaming
reproduction
start failure
RTP: payload
1st data packet
BUFFERING
Streaming reproduction
starts picture appears
PLAY
Intentional
T3
Video/audio stream
ends
RTSP
TEARDOWN
Web Browsing KPIs
Service coverage
Parameters
Web page
download time
Service access time
Trigger
points
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
Service access
31
Data transfer
T0
T1
1st TCP [SYN]
1st HTTP: GET
Intentional
T2
HTTP: FIN/ACK
Reception of last data packet
Display data
T3
E-mail KPIs
Service coverage
Parameters
Sending time
Service access time

Trigger
points
Service access
1st TCP [SYN]
Omnitele Ltd. 2005
E-mail sending
T1
T0
32
Receiving time
SMTP: 250
ACK (HELO)
E-mail download
T2
T3
Last data
IMAP: FETCH Body
packet send
TCP [FIN/ACK]
T4
Last data packet
received
TCP [FIN/ACK]

Lagerstrom 060905

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Lagerstrom 060905

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Analysis of Service Quality

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

UMTS introduces new real time services to mobile networks,

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Key Performance Indicators have not

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Why do we need QoS?

UMTS networks support services with very different performance

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

QoS Traffic Classes

Preserve time relation between

Preserve time relation between

Destination is not expecting the

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

QoS Profile Attributes

SDU error ratio

Delivery of erraneous SDUs

Maximum SDU size (octets)

Maximum allowed bit rate

e.g. 64, 128 or 384 kbps

Maximum guaranteed bit rate

e.g. 64, 128 or 384 kbps

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Interactive RAB, THP/ARP = 1

Different QoS techniques in

Operators QoS Strategy

Operators can practise user differentiation by

Meet the needs of different

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Measuring network performance

Network Performance Monitoring

Defining the right KPIs

Different services have different quality requirements

With inadequate performance indicators and monitoring

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Example: Voice Services - CS

Availability & Coverage

Service integrity Voice quality

Noisy frames (FER),

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Call drop rate

Example: Data Services - PS

Availability & Coverage

BLER, FER, throughput,

Dropped data connection

Dropped PDP context/attach

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Omnitele Ltd. 2005

Drive test: AMR speech

Drive test: FTP download

Web page download

Data connection: attach, PDP

Tools: Nemo Outdoor, Optimi x-AppMonitor, Ethereal

AMR voice Drive test statistics

Soft handovers per call

Best active Ec/N0 (dB) ave.

Call setup time (s)

Reasons for call failure:

CPICH coverage Ec/N0

According to Ec/N0 values

If large interference areas are