Garca et al.

EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323

http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

RESEARCH

Open Access

Automatic UMTS system resource dimensioning

based on service traffic analysis
Pablo Alonso Garca1, Alberto lvarez Gonzlez1*, Alonso Alonso Alonso2, Beln Carro Martnez2,
Javier M Aguiar Prez2 and Antonio Snchez Esguevillas2

Abstract
Mobile network operators base their TDM network capacity dimensioning on Erlang B models. This approach was
valid in legacy GSM networks. However, current Universal Mobile Telecommunications System networks deal with
different resource consumption services such as voice, video call or data, and different limiting resources such as
baseband processing capacity, transmission link capacity to the RNC, or spreading code tree. Operators need
models to decide which resource must be upgraded, according to the demand of the services, in order to achieve
expected overall service accessibility (i.e., the complementary of blocking probability). Network operation requires
detecting when degradation is due to a lack of resources or to a hardware malfunction. Also, when operators need
to prevent blockage in a high-capacity demanding event (for which they only have traffic predictions for each
service) it is far from trivial to dimension resources. We have implemented a Kaufman Roberts approach to
characterize the multiservice resource demand. Using real reported traffic Key Performance Indicators to calibrate
the model, an estimated accessibility is obtained at a per-resource level and combined to find global estimated
accessibility. The proposed model is intended to assist network operation, estimating individual resource shortage,
differentiating congestion from hardware failures, and predicting the necessary resources to be deployed to tackle a
high-capacity demanding event.
Keywords: Component, UMTS, Lub, Channel elements, Spreading codes, KaufmanRoberts, Modeling, Grade of
service

1. Introduction
Capacity management in mobile networks implies two
main tasks: solving present blockage issues (detecting
limiting resources, in order to upgrade them or differentiating congested from malfunctioning resources), and
adequate resource provisioning to avoid blockage in a
future event from which service demand is estimated
(massively populated sports events, concerts, etc.).
Mobile network vendors do not provide operators with
the tools to tackle these issues. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network equipment
reports key performance indicators (KPIs) related to
capacity shortage, such as failed connection attempts,
but no clue is provided in order to detect the limiting
resource or a subsystem malfunction, nor is any advice
given on how many resources to provision in order to
* Correspondence: alvarezgalberto@uniovi.es
1
University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

avoid blockage for a certain forecasted service demand.

As an example, a high concentration of Smartphones
in a concert may increase uplink data traffic, requiring
certain uplink resources to be improved. Modeling how
each service demands capacity from different resources
becomes crucial in order to adequately dimension the
network.
In this study, we have modeled each resource behavior
for a given service (voice, data, video call) demand. We
obtain the overall accessibility and validate the model in
real scenarios. We also propose how to detect when a
specific resource is congested (or whether it is malfunctioning), and what resources must be upgraded to attend
to a certain service traffic mix.
Current UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
(UTRAN), commonly referred to as 3G (3rd Generation
Wireless Mobile Communication Technology), is the incumbent mobile technology in Europe. The authors have
studied real 3G network scenarios in Spain, where, at the

2012 Garca et al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

moment, Long-Term Evolution (LTE)/4G (e-UTRAN)

clusters are being deployed, but only in trial scenarios.
So, not enough network KPIs are being collected in order
to extend the dimensioning model to LTE. We have
intentionally based our work on currently deployed 3G
networks, where we have plenty of field experience to
calibrate the model. We also propose how to extend this
approach to future LTE-based networks.
As stated by the 3GPP, services in UMTS are classified
as Circuit Switched (CS) and Packet Switched (PS). CS is
connection-oriented services, such as voice and video
telephony, while PS are data services, such as HSDPA,
HSUPA, and Release 99 (R99). CS services are considered guaranteed traffic, while PS services are considered
non-guaranteed.
A basic scheme of a UMTS access network is shown
in Figure 1. Uu is the radio interface between UE and
Node B. Iub is the transmission interface from node B to
the Radio Network Controller (RNC). CS and PS services
demand resources at different Radio Access Network
(RAN) levels: radio interface (spreading codesSCs),
baseband processing capacity (channel elementsCE),
and Iub capacity. PS and CS services share the consumption of CE and SC pool. Meanwhile, PS and CS
services are carried by Iub_CS and Iub_PS, respectively.
PS traffic uses the remaining capacity in the Iub once
the CS traffic has been allocated.
Whenever a resource shortage is detected, more
resources need to be installed in the system. At radio level,
capacity enhancements can be made by the addition of
new carriers. Each 5-MHz carrier contains a full SC tree.
As stated by 3GPP, each service has a different Spreading
Factor (SF) Code consumption. At node B, processing
capacity is measured in terms of CE. One CE is the baseband processing capacity required in node B to provide
one voice channel, including the control plane signaling.
Each service has a different demand of CEs. Increasing
the processing capacity of node B through additional CEs
involves the installation of extra hardware baseband cards
in node B. At the Iub, capacity upgrades will imply increasing the number of virtual channel connections
(VCC) when using ATM, or increasing IP throughput
when using IP. Iub CS is usually implemented through
legacy ATM Constant Bit Rate Virtual Circuits while Iub

Figure 1 Scheme of a UMTS access network.

Page 2 of 10

PS is being migrated from ATM Variable Bit Rate VCs

to IP.
Thus, three key points of constraint have been
identified: radio, node B, and Iub capacity, hereinafter
referred to as SC, CE, and Iub, respectively. A shortage
of resources at any point implies a connection reject,
degrading users perceived quality. In consequence, being
able to appropriately dimension UMTS resources at
every subsystem is a must. Not in vain, insufficient resource allocation leads to service downgrade and over
dimension is economically inefficient.
This study addresses the modeling of a UMTS scheme,
considering resource availability at the three mentioned
stages, i.e., SC, CE, and Iub. These are the resources that
can be upgraded by network operation. Other radio
interface conditions, such as uplink intercellular and
traffic load interference level, or downlink power consumption (depending on traffic and propagation loss),
are not considered in this study. The impact of these
factors can be diminished enhancing the number of
nodes in a specific area and reducing the soft handover
area (decreasing nodes overlapping). But in real network
operation, the former CE, SC, and Iub are the main limiting resources, and its upgrading is part of the daily operation tasks. The difficulty for operators is to detect which
one is the limiting resource and whether the accessibility
is restricted due to congestion or to hardware failure.
It is also crucial to know how to improve capacity in each
resource (downlink/uplink CEs, SC, downlink/uplink
Iub) in order to keep accessibility at acceptable levels for
a forecast of service traffic mix.
The model described in this article evolved from the
initial propositions made in [1]. The proposed model
uses as input data the traffic for each service (CS and PS),
and estimates the blocking probability for each resource.
A system overall blocking probability (or its complementary, the accessibility) is then computed. In contrast with
the work in [1], the current study considers the interdependence between resources in the UMTS model. Full
details of the model development are given in this study.
The total combined accessibility is compared with the
KPI-reported accessibility in three different scenarios,
now also including a known hardware impaired scenario
to better demonstrate the capabilities of the model.

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

Services offered by the UMTS network under study

are characterized in terms of their resource consumptions. Then, for each resource, a KaufmanRoberts
(KR)-based algorithm [2,3] is applied using connection attempts to produce the estimated accessibility for
each service class (CS and PS). The accessibilities per
resource will be combined to obtain an overall accessibility. Overall accessibility is available in network-reported
KPIs, though it is not available at a per resource level.
The fact that the model does reach this detail is a key
feature.
The rest of the article is organized as follows. Section 2
discusses related works. Sections 3 and 4 provide details
of the model design and implementation. Section 5 gives
a numerical example to illustrate the model operation.
Section 6 debates the model results and compares them
with reported KPIs. The same modeling techniques used
in 3G/UTRAN can be extended to include 4G/LTE
(E-UTRAN), as will be discussed in Section 7. Finally,
concluding remarks and future work are presented in
Section 8.

2. Related work
Most models found in the literature study theoretically
the capacity of a UMTS system but do not deal with the
set of hardware subsystems suitable to upgrade or repair
by network operation for a specific traffic demand.
Conversely, results of those works are mostly validated
through simulations and do not rely on a real service
providing network, as the present study does.
Several articles have been dedicated to discuss radio
interface issues, such as interference or power budget
[4-7]. The common scope is to enhance network capacity associated to radio conditions, by reducing the soft
handover area, controlling overshooting, or providing
better power control algorithms. The Iub dimensioning
has explicitly been discussed in several articles [8-13].
Main studies related to multiservice environments use
KR approach, or variations of this algorithm. Staehle
and Mder [14] proposed a KR revised algorithm which
considers state-dependant blocking probabilities to obtain a good approximation of uplink blocking probabilities. They first determine the blocking probability
as a function of the own cell interference and the
other cell interference. With the KR model they combine their approach to a multiservice environment. Similarly, Iversen [15,16] considers uplink interference, using
a modified KR recursive algorithm. He discusses the
usage of state-dependant blocking probabilities and the
particularities considered to allow reversibility and reality
at the same time.
In this study, we have not considered limiting factors
such as uplink and inter-cell interference, as those are
not adjustable by network operation. They are aspects

Page 3 of 10

more closely related to network planning and initial

dimension. We have rather focused on system features
which value can be changed by regular network operation (such as baseband capacity, Iub capacity, and
number of carriers).
Mder and Staehle [17] obtain a model considering
the effects of soft blocking and imperfect power control.
A KR approach is used for the calculation of transmission power depending on the number of powercontrolled mobiles. Although very interesting, such
approaches are not the main concern of daily network
operators, according the authors experience.
Vassilakis et al. [18] investigate blocking probabilities
in the uplink considering handoff. They also investigate
the impact of elastic and streaming traffic on network
capacity [19,20]. Sallent et al. [21] propose the radio conditions enhancement through antenna tilt optimization,
obtaining better channel quality index and EcNo values,
with impact on node capacity.
Renard et al. [22] provide an analytical model to
dimension the X2 link, for LTE. They also use a KRderived formula, proving the possibilities of extension
of the present work in upcoming LTE networks.
As LTE medium access protocol is orthogonal
frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), several
articles dimension multiservice demand using KR for
OFDMA access. Blaszczyszyn and Karray [23] use an
Erlangs loss model to dimension downlink in OFDMA
networks. Karray [24] particularizes the downlink QoS
study to streaming and elastic traffics.
As depicted from related work on LTE, most authors
use KR approximation to forecast system blocking in
multiservice environments. Network resources in LTE
are mainly similar to those in UTRAN, as both rely on
baseband, radio carrier, and transmission interface capacity as critical resources. Nevertheless, these LTE studies
lack of real field validation. Instead, our study has been
written from on field experience and it is especially a
practical for actual field network operation.

3. Blocking probability models

In UTRAN, a connection attempt is blocked whenever
one of the necessary resources is not available. At the
same time, resources need to attend different services
simultaneously.
Algorithms such as KR [2,3] provide a valid method
for obtaining multiservice blocking probability for a single resource. Nonetheless, the industry has accepted
KR-based algorithms to model multiservice network
blocking probability. As explained in Section 2, multiple
extensions have been studied to improve the basic KR
model, particularly including issues regarding CDMA
features. Nevertheless, the original algorithm and the

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

efficient implementation provided in Stasiak et al. already

provide notable results regarding degradation detection.
According to the authors first definition, given a
limited capacity for a single resource C, the blocking
probability of service i, Pb,i, can be described as in
Equation (1). The distribution q is expressed in terms
of the resource consumption of service, bi, and of ai,
as the offered traffic intensity (in Erlang), as explained
in Equation (2). The basic definition of the KR
algorithm is outlined in Figure 2.
i 1
PB;i bi0
q C  i

1
qj ki1 ai bi qj  bi
j

Initial implementations of basic KR recursive algorithms are computationally inefficient and thus, timeconsuming [15,16]. While the traditional recursive algorithm is widely used to obtain the blocking probabilities
in multiservice scenarios [25,26], the authors have used
an improved version, based on the fast Fourier transformation (FFT) as proposed in [3], notably reducing the
computation consumption and producing faster results.
The authors have verified the accuracy of the FFT implementation, in comparison with the recursive implementation, enhancing the computational performance.
YK

G IFFT
FFT

3
i
i1
Finally, each probability distribution will be composed
as indicated in Equation (2). Namely,
 
C
G i
G i
K 1
PB;i
4
iCb
C
G
i0 Gi
At each constrained resource, the modeling algorithm
explained in Equation (1) calculates the blocking probability for each service i for the corresponding limited
resource n. The total blocking probability at this resource,
integrating all services, is calculated by the expression in
(5) where Pb,ni denotes the blocking probability for the
service i at the resource n cani stands for the connection
attempts for service i at the subsystem or constrained resource n. The blocking probability at resource n is used

a1b1
a2b2
a3b3
a4b4

Shared
Resource
C

Figure 2 KR-based model.

pb1
pb2
pb3
pb4

Page 4 of 10

to shrink the traffic that reaches next constrained resource, n + 1.

PBn 100 

i cani Pb;ni
ni cani

8
< cani can1i 1  PBn1 ; n > 1
ca for n 1 are the call attempts attended
: ni
at the first subsystem
6
Thus, the proposed model requires each scenario to
be defined in the following terms: resources available at
each subsystem, traffic demand, and connection attempts
for each service. The unitary consumption for each service at each resource must also be known.
The resources at each subsystem, C, depend on the
hardware configuration of the particular scenario. Iub
CS and Iub PS are carried through different transmission
systems, with different capabilities for UL and DL.
At the CE subsystem, C is expressed as the amount of
CE available in UL and DL. A CE is the baseband processing capacity required in node B to provide one voice
channel, including the control plane signaling. The particular hardware configuration of a node determines the
number of cards and the amount of CE per card available (in the nodes under study, typically each card has
384 CEs). At SC, the factor C is defined as the number
of SCs available in the tree for each service. There can
also be more than one tree (adding a new 5-MHz carrier). A regular SC tree has codes ranging from SF 16 to
SF 256 and each service consumes one or more codes at
a certain SF level.
The services considered also depend on the particular
scenario. Common UMTS services include voice, PS384
service, HSPA (UL and DL), and Video Telephony.
Traffic and connection attempts for each service are
obtained from network KPI. In addition to user data
channels, signaling is also considered.
Once the resource consumption has been characterized
for the different services and the traffic demand for each
one is known, the modeling algorithm can be applied to
estimate the per-resource and the overall accessibility.

4. Why model UMTS accessibility

Accessibility is a measure of accepted versus attempted
connections and it is measured as a percentage. The
network-reported KPI for accessibility accounts for both
hardware failure and congestion connection blockage.
Theoretical accessibility, as calculated in this study,
measures just the blockage due to congestion. Thus, it
is possible to discriminate whether a node rejects connection due to lack of resources or to resource malfunction. This process is depicted in Figure 3. Also, as this

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

Traffic KPI

K-R
processing
Theoretical
Accessibility

Detection
Accessibility KPI

Operation &
Maintenance

Hardware/
Software failure
discrimination

Figure 3 General discrimination model.

Page 5 of 10

theoretical accessibility is obtained per resource, it

becomes clear which one to upgrade for a certain known
or forecasted traffic demand.
As node B subsystems can be classified in CE, SC, and
Iub, KR is applied in each one considering all service
traffic connection attempts. KR model has been used
for every resource in the system, as each of them share a
pool of resources to attend a collection of services with
a different resource consumption profile. Later, the three
accessibilities are aggregated to obtain the overall accessibility. The same exercise is repeated in DL and UL. In
order to compare the overall theoretical with the real
accessibilities, the model uses as input the traffic
demands reported by network KPIs for each service.
In the UMTS architecture, services follow different
paths along node B depending on the nature of the
traffic. The paths are described in Figure 4. The resources
involved in DL channel include Iub DL, CE, and SC,
while resources comprised in UL exclude SC.
Each subsystem receives a collection of connection
attempts; some are rejected, and those accepted are
handed to the next subsystem. The model considers this
successive leakage of attempts, as stated in Equation (6).
On the DL, connection attempts first enter the Iub.
Accepted connections through Iub are then processed at
DL CE to decide whether sufficient resources are available. Finally, the remaining non-blocked traffic reaches
the SC block. The output through the entire chain will

K-R processing
cai

(as reported by KPIs)

cai (1-Pb_CE)(1-Pb_Iub_CS/PS)
Pb_IubCS_DL
Pb_IubPS_DL
Pb_IubCS_UL
Pb_IubPS_UL

Iub (K-R)
Iub (K-R)
cai (1-Pb_Iub_CS/PS)

CE (K-R)

cai (1-Pb_CE)

Pb_CE_DL

CE (K-R)

Pb_CE_UL

cai (1-Pb_Iub_CS/PS)(1-Pb_CE)

SC (K-R)

Pb_SC_DL

cai

cai (1-Pb_Iub_CS/PS)(1-Pb_CE)(1-Pb_SC)
Downlink

Uplink

Figure 4 Detailed models of KR processing for uplink (b) and downlink (a).

(as reported by KPIs)

cai: connection attemps of
service i
Pb_xx_yy: Blocking probability at
resource xx (Iub, CE or SC)
for direction yy (Uplink(UL) or
Downlink(DL))

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

conform to the successful connections performed. On

the UL, the connection attempts will first reach the UL
CE and then the Iub UL. The output traffic will be the
successful connections (Figure 4). SC is not involved
in the uplink as each user terminal has its own set of
orthogonal codes.
Each block in Figure 4 is implemented as a KR node,
as formulated in Section 3. As previously stated, it must
be considered that the blocked attempts do not try the
next resource: blocking probability at each resource is
used to reduce the input traffic to the next block and so
on. Traffic intensity, ai, for each service is directly
obtained from network-reported KPIs [27]. Earlier studies [1] did not include such particularization as resources
were considered as independent with regard to the traffic
input statistics.
To be able to detect short-term accessibility downgrades, it is convenient to deal with at least per minute
traffic information. While most vendors provide 15-min
resolution, it became necessary to estimate the values at
a minute scale by means of interpolation. Input traffic
from KPIs is interpolated using a Poisson distribution.
For large values of the distribution statistic, this process
produces a reconstruction bias as demonstrated in [1].
Values of lambda parameter as 1 were proved to be sufficiently accurate, as reconstruction bias was negligible.
Once the accessibility at each resource is calculated, it
is necessary to estimate the overall accessibility. Accessibility is considered separately for rigid (CS) and elastic
(PS) services. Nevertheless, formulation is equivalent to
both approaches and, for the sake of clarity, only a
general expression is shown here.
The overall accessibility for each traffic direction, UL
and DL, is the result of the combination of the per resource probabilities taking into account the serial concatenation of the subsystems. The accessibility is therefore
the ratio between attempted and successful calls. Accordingly, the combined accessibility would respond to the
following expressions of accessibility for DL and UL,
respectively.
AccDL 1  Pb lubDL 1  PbCEDL 1  PbSCDL

AccUL 1  Pb lubUL 1  PbCEUL

In the case of Iub, formulation is valid both for CS

and PS services.
To be able to obtain a fair comparison of the estimated accessibility with that reported by the network,
global CS accessibility including UL and DL is combined
in a single expression obtained as the total succeeded
calls normalized by the total input call attempts in both
directions.

Page 6 of 10

Table 1 Resources at the node B

Resource

CIub-PS (Mbps)

CIub-CS (Mbps)

CCE

DL

23

1.2

768

UL

2.8

1.2

768

5. Numerical example
In order to illustrate the basic operation of the developed
model, a simple numerical example will be outlined here.
First, we define the amount of resources available at
the node. Let us consider a simple scenario with different resources, SC, CE, and Iub (in the DL path) and CE
and Iub in the uplink. Iub PS DL uses IP, while Iub CS
and Iub PS UL use ATM. Thus, all services but HSDPA
use ATM. The number of carriers is one so we are considering one SC tree.
Iub_PS DL uses a DSL line with 23 Mbps capacity.
The node has two E1 lines with one VCC channel for
CS. The node has also two CE cards for UL and another
set of two for DL. The resources are defined as Table 1
indicates.
Each of the services demanded has a unitary consumption on the different resources. The unitary consumptions for the services are detailed in Table 2. Voice
consumes 1 CE both UL and downlink. 12.2 kbps codecs
are used for voice. Consumption of CE for HSPA services
are defined as 21 CE for each 16 users in the DL and
32 CE for each 16 users in the UL. The throughput for
HSPA services is variable. The voice uses one SC with SF
256. HSUPA does not consume SC in node B as it relies
on the user equipment uplink carrier SC tree.
Next, we define an arbitrary combination of traffic
intensities and connection attempts for each service at a
certain instant ti, as shown in Table 3. The developed
model will obtain the accessibility at that instant. The
actual implementation considers an array of traffic instants corresponding to the daily demand. The intensities
shown at the instant ti are inspired in the values registered
in the real scenarios for a 15min observation period. To
calculate the traffic demand in Erlangs for PS services,
Equation (9) is used. states for the bps consumption, as
reported in KPIs, whereas states for the data channel
capacity in bps. In this example, it is defined as 1 kbps.

Table 2 Service unitary resource consumptions

bCE-DL

bCE-UL

bIub-DL

bIub-UL

Voice

12.2 kbps

12.2 kbps

1SF256

PS384

16

384 kbps

64 kbps

1SF32

HSDPA

1.31

N/A

Variable

N/A

1SF16

HSUPA

N/A

N/A

Variable

N/A

SC

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

Table 3 Traffic statistics for exemplification at instant ti

of 15 min
Voice

220 connection attempts

40 Erlang

PS384

DL
800 connection attempts
1000 KB/15 min
8.8 Erlang
UL
800 connection attempts
400 KB/15 min
3.55 Erlang

HSDPA

250 connection attempts

2300 KB/15 min
20.44 Erlang

HSUPA

400 connection attempts

1000 KB/15 min
8.8 Erlang

Notes Signaling uses one additional Erlang for each CS Erlang. Traffic intensity
values consider a soft handover factor of 1.10.

The accessibilities reported in Table 4 are obtained at

a per-resource level. Note that SC accessibility is not
applicable for UL for the reasons explained before. The
combination of different resources is performed as
indicated in expressions (7) and (8).
Finally, through the combination method described
previously, we obtain the following values for the overall
scenario ACCCS = 51.07% ACCPS = 43.35%. These values
are suitable for the comparison with the reported values
in KPI in a given real scenario.

6. Validation case studies

Several real UMTS network scenarios have been selected
to calibrate and test this model. KPIs from these scenarios
have been used to validate the estimation of the overall
accessibility. Customer devices in the tests were mainly
Smartphones with HSPA available. Most Smartphones
had one radio carrier capacity. Some 3G USB cards were
also used, with two radio carriers capacity. The performance of the model is measured in terms of its
Table 4 Accessibility results at resource level
UL (%)

DL (%)

AccIubCS

100

43

AccIubPS

100

100

AccCE

58

69

AccSC

N/A

40

AccCS

59

44

AccPS

59

28

Page 7 of 10

ability to detect congestion and to identify the congested

resources. For that purpose we have studied the behavior
of two different scenarios providing network reports
before and after performing a resource upgrade. Reports
at these scenarios are collected in consecutive weeks,
from the same node with similar traffic demands. It will
also be demonstrated that how the model is capable of
helping the operators to distinguish network congestion
from hardware failure through another scenario, whose
reports have been collected in a known hardware failure
condition.
For the scenarios in this study, it is mandatory to
know the available capacity at each resource. Services
involved in the study range from voice connections to
HSPA data. Traffic intensities and connection attempts
for each service at every scenario are obtained from network KPIs.
The first case study shows a node with a deep degradation at a peak hour. The CS accessibility is the most
affected parameter and for clarity issues, PS is omitted.
Figure 5 shows the comparison between real and estimated CS accessibility in the first case study before and
after performing an upgrade by augmenting the Iub CS
capacity. The Iub CS capacity is doubled, as is presented
in the spider plot within Figure 5. It should be noted
that the resource plots have been normalized to the
maximum values for each resource across scenarios. The
shadowed parts in the CS accessibility plots indicate
the period where the node accessibility is remarkably
degraded.
As can be seen in the figures, theoretical and real
accessibilities are analogous, allowing the operator to
detect capacity degradations only observing the estimated accessibility. However, the offset in theoretical
values is due to factors not taken into account in the
model (such as radio conditions, propagation loss, interference, power limitations, etc.). The benefit of the model
is to obtain values per resource, and to exclude the effect
of allocation rejections due to hardware failures.
After upgrading the Iub CS, both the real CS accessibility and the CS model estimated accessibility
confirm the capacity improvement. In addition, estimated accessibility can also be dissected at resource
level (CE, SC, and Iub). This is a clear advantage of
the model, as network-reported KPIs provide only the
overall accessibility.
The supplementary accessibility values provided by the
model at each resource constitute a valuable asset for
network engineers. In the first scenario, the CS accessibility at Iub resource is the most limiting resource.
Accessibility for CS services before and after the upgrading of the Iub is shown in Figure 6, left. The improvement of the accessibility at Iub is roughly the same
improvement registered in the overall accessibility. It is

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

Page 8 of 10

CS Acc (after)

80
Acc
60
40
20

80
40
20

Acc
60

100

100

CS Acc (before)

12

18

24

Theoretical
Real

Time (hours)

12

18

24

Time (hours)
Scenario Resources

IubPS_DL

IubPS_UL

CE_UL

IubCS

CE_DL

Static Resources:
IubPS_UL = 2.824 Mbps
IubPS_DL = 30 Mbps
CE_UL = 768 CE
CE_DL = 768 CE
SC = 2 SC trees (2 carriers)
Upgraded Resource:
IubPS_UL = 1.272 Mbps > 2.544 Mbps

SC

Figure 5 CS accessibility comparison in scenario 1 before and after an Iub CS upgrade.

noticeable how the overall accessibility is reasonably

close to the form of the Iub resource accessibility. This
fact has come to confirm that the Iub was the most constrained resource at this node.
The second case study depicted in Figure 7 demonstrates the performance of the model regarding PS accessibility. According to the accepted threshold for
node degradation (around 99%), the real accessibility in

the second case study, before the upgrade is performed,

indicates that the node is consistently degraded after
the eighth hour. Observing the estimated accessibility
and focusing on the relative value of the estimated data,
more than on the absolute value, degradation is observed
at around the ninth hour.
When observing the per-resource accessibilities, the
UL CEs are the most constrained resource. After
PS Acc (after)

80
Acc
60
40
20

80
40
20

Acc
60

100

100

PS Acc (before)

12

18

24

Theoretical
Real

Time (hours)

12
Time (hours)

Scenario Resources

IubPS_DL

IubPS_UL

CE_UL

CE_DL

IubCS

Static Resources:
IubCS = 1.272 Mbps
IubPS_UL = 2.048 Mbps
IubPS_DL = 30 Mbps
CE_DL = 768 CE
SC = 1 SC tree (1 carrier)
Upgraded Resource:
CE_UL = 768 CE > 1152

SC

Figure 6 Accessibility at upgraded resources for scenario 1 (left) and scenario 2 (right).

18

24

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

40

Acc
60

80

CS Acc

20

Theoretical
Real

12

18

24

Time (hours)
Scenario Resources
Resources:
IubCS = 1.272 Mbps
IubPS_UL = 4.096 Mbps
IubPS_DL = 30 Mbps
CE_UL = 384 CE
CE_DL = 768 CE
SC = 1 SC tree (1 carrier)

IubPS_DLIubPS_UL

CE_UL

CE_DL

IubCS

SC

Figure 7 PS accessibility comparison in scenario 2 before and

after a CE upgrade in the UL.

upgrading the UL CEs by adding another 384 CE, the PS

accessibility has significantly improved according to both
the real and the estimated accessibilities in Figure 7.
Again the accessibility at the CE UL resource has
improved after the upgrading by about 30%. Similar to
the results observed in the first scenario, the accessibility
at the CE UL is very close to overall accessibility, proving the hypothesis that this was the resource that most
contributed to the node degradation.
Finally, in Figure 8, a case study consisting of a scenario with a known hardware failure is used to evidence
the performance of the model regarding hardware failure
identification. Reported accessibility is lower than that
estimated in the model. This evidences the presence of
hardware failure rejections, as the theoretical accessibility
only considers congestion-originated rejections.

Page 9 of 10

7. Extension to LTE
The approach developed and tested with 3G/UMTS can
be migrated to 4G/LTE-based systems, albeit with a few
modifications, due to technological differences. The
baseband processing in the network nodes is performed
by similar resources, conceptually equivalent to CE. On
the other hand, the radio carrier capacity is no longer
defined by SC tree, standard in CDMA. In LTE, the
radio channel will be divided into multiple radio carriers
and transmitted using frequency multiplexing techniques such as OFDMA. Full IP interface S1 replaces Iub,
and links the E-NodeB directly to the gateway, bypassing
the current RNC. Consequently, the model can be
extended by redefining the module of radio interface
resource occupation and modeling appropriately the
new IP interface, S1. In addition, CE per service consumption table needs to be updated. Future development roadmap includes developing the 4G/LTE version
of the model incorporating real system evaluations of
real operative 4G networks as soon as they become
available. At the time of publication, small demonstrative
clusters are deployed, but none is yet in production
service.
8. Conclusion
This study presents a model for the estimation of accessibility for UMTS services. It has proven to be very useful for network operation, serving as a tool to provision
network resources to manage a certain capacity demand
in a multiservice scenario. It also helps to detect poorly
dimensioned and malfunctioning resources.
A KR approach is implemented, but FFT version is
used instead of the recursive algorithm, in order to reduce
computation time. The model is validated through comparison between estimated and real network reported
accessibilities. The validation of the model includes real
scenarios with different blocking conditions.

Acc at each resource (Scenario 2)

20

20

40

40

Acc
60

Acc
60

80

80

100

100

Acc at each resource (Scenario 1)

Acc CS Iub (before)

Acc CS Iub (after)

12
18
Time (hours)

Figure 8 CS accessibility in scenario 3 with hardware failure.

Acc PS CE (before)
Acc PS CE (after)

24

12
18
Time (hours)

24

Garca et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2012, 2012:323
http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2012/1/323

Accessibility in the proposed model is estimated at a

per resource level. This feature is not available in real
scenario reports.
Connection failures are due to congestion in system
resources (CE, SC, or Iub), hardware failure rejection,
or abnormal radio conditions (interference and poor
coverage). To avoid distortions in the validation of our
model, scenarios have been selected where radio conditions and resource availability were known.
Field experience has proven that the model helps to
properly dimension network resources. To avoid blockage, the limiting resource is identified (CEs, Iub, or
WCDMA carriers) for a specific traffic demand, so network operators can properly manage the capacity provisioned at each resource. The developed method to
estimate system accessibility constitutes a valuable tool
to forecast system performance, to detect limiting
resources and system hardware failures. The combination of the constrained resources in the entire path of
the services is a novel approach that grants an efficient
solution for UTRAN dimensioning. Thanks to FFT KR
approach, its implementation is sufficiently fast to be
used with real traffic vectors.
Our model would improve accuracy if tuned with per
minute real measures. As network equipment does not
allow that, traffic should be generated in a laboratory
base station. Future work will be undertaken to improve
current model precision and extend the model to LTE
technology.

7.
8.
9.

10.

11.

12.

13.
14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

20.

Author details
1
University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain. 2University of Valladolid, Valladolid,
Spain.

21.

Received: 16 June 2012 Accepted: 2 October 2012

Published: 29 October 2012

22.

References
1. P Alonso, A Alvarez, A Alonso, B Carro, JM Aguiar, A Snchez, A method for
the detection of QoS degradation in UMTS Networks, in 2nd International
Workshop on Context-aware QoS Provisioning and Management for Emerging
Networks, 2nd edn. (Applications and Services, Germany, 2012)
2. J Kaufman, Blocking in a shared resource environment. IEEE Trans Commun
29(10), 14741481 (1981)
3. JW Roberts, A service system with heterogeneous user requirements
application to multi-service telecommunications systems, in Proceedings of
Performance of Data Communications Systems and their Applications,
ed. by G Pujolle (1981), pp. 423431
4. M Stasiak, P Zwierzykowski, J Wiewira, Analytical model of the WCDMA
radio interface in UMTS network with user differentiation, in Fifth Advanced
International Conference on Telecommunications, 2009, 2009, pp. 8388
5. M Stasiak, P Zwierzykowski, D Parniewicz, Modelling of the WCDMA
interface in the UMTS network with soft handoff mechanism, in IEEE Global
Telecommunications Conference, 2009 (GLOBECOM 2009) (2009), pp. 16
6. M Stasiak, P Zwierzykowski, J Wiewira, WCDMA interface in UMTS network
carrying a mixture of multi-rate traffic with different priorities, in
International Conference on Telecommunications, 2009, ICT09, 2009,
pp. 254259

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

Page 10 of 10

M Stasiak, J Wiewira, Analytical model of the radio interface in the UMTS

with packet scheduling mechanism, in AFRICON, 2009 (2009), pp. 16
X Li, R Schelb, C Grg, A Timm-Giel, Dimensioning of UTRAN Iub links for
elastic internet traffic (International Teletraffic Congress, Beijing, 2005)
X Li, R Schelb, C Goerg, A Timm-Giel, Dimensioning of UTRAN Iub links for
elastic internet traffic with multiple radio bearers, in 13th GI/ITG Conference
on Measuring, Modelling and Evaluation of Computer and Communication
Systems (MMB), 2006, 13th edn. (2006), pp. 116
M Stasiak, J Wiewira, P Zwierzykowski, Analytical modelling of the Iub
interface in the UMTS network, in International Symposium on
Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing (CNSDSP,
2008), 6th edn. (2008), pp. 204207
M Stasiak, P Zwierzykowski, J Wiewira, Modeling and dimensioning of the
Iub interface in the UMTS network. Ubiquitous Comput Commun J
(Special Issue CSNDSP 2008) (2009)
M Terr, E Vivier, B Fino, Optimisation of downlink resource allocation
algorithms for UMTS networks. EURASIP J Wirel Commun Netw 4,
573578 (2005)
SJ Oh, D Zhang, KM Wasserman, Optimal resource allocation in multiservice
CDMA networks. IEEE Trans Wirel Commun 2(4), 811821 (2003)
D Staehle, A Mder, An analytic approximation of the uplink capacity in a
UMTS network with heterogeneous traffic, in 18th International Teletraffic
Congress (ITC18) (2003), pp. 8191
VB Iversen, Evaluation of multi-service CDMA networks with soft blocking, in
Smart Spaces and Next Generation Wired/Wireless Networking, ed. by
S Balandin, R Dunaytsev, Y Koucheryavy, vol. 6294 (Springer, Berlin, 2010),
pp. 160171
VB Iversen, Modelling restricted accessibility for wireless multi-service
systems, in Wireless Systems and Network Architectures in Next Generation
Internet, ed. by M Cesana, L Fratta, vol. 3883 (Springer, Berlin, 2006),
pp. 93102
A Mder, D Staehle, Analytic modeling of the WCDMA downlink capacity in
multi-service environments, in 16th ITC Specialist Seminar on Performance
Evaluation of Wireless and Mobile Systems, 16th edn. (2004), pp. 217226
VG Vassilakis, GA Kallos, ID Moscholios, MD Logothetis, On the handoff-call
blocking probability calculation in W-CDMA cellular networks, in Fourth
Advanced International Conference on Telecommunications, 2008. AICT08
(2008), pp. 173179
VG Vassilakis, GA Kallos, ID Moscholios, MD Logothetis, Call-level analysis of
W-CDMA networks supporting elastic services of finite population, in IEEE
International Conference on Communications, 2008, ICC08 (2008), pp. 285290
VG Vassilakis, GA Kallos, ID Moscholios, DM Logothetis, The wireless Engset
multi-rate loss model for the call-level analysis of W-CDMA networks, in IEEE
18th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio
Communications, 2007, PIMRC 2007, 18th edn. (2007), pp. 15
O Sallent, J Perez-Romero, J Sanchez-Gonzalez, R Agusti, MA Diaz-guerra,
D Henche, D Paul, A roadmap from UMTS optimization to LTE selfoptimization. IEEE Commun Mag 49(6), 172182 (2011)
B Renard, SE Elayoubi, A Simonian, A dimensioning method for the LTE
X<inf>2</inf> interface, in 2012 IEEE Wireless Communications and
Networking Conference (WCNC) (2012), pp. 27182723
B Blaszczyszyn, MK Karray, Dimensioning of the downlink in OFDMA cellular
networks via an Erlangs loss model, in European Wireless Conference, 2009,
EW 2009 (2009), pp. 157161
MK Karray, Analytical evaluation of QoS in the downlink of OFDMA wireless
cellular networks serving streaming and elastic traffic. IEEE Trans Wirel
Commun 9(5), 17991807 (2010)
H Shengye, Y Wu, F Suili, S Hui, Coordination-based optimization of path
bandwidth allocation for large-scale telecommunication networks. Comput
Commun 27(1), 7080 (2004)
M Logothetis, S Shioda, Medium-term centralized virtual-path bandwidth
control based on traffic measurements. IEEE Trans Commun 43(10),
26302640 (1995)
R Kreher, UMTS Performance Measurement: A Practical Guide to KPIs for the
UTRAN Environment (Wiley, New York, 2006)

doi:10.1186/1687-1499-2012-323
Cite this article as: Garca et al.: Automatic UMTS system resource
dimensioning based on service traffic analysis. EURASIP Journal on
Wireless Communications and Networking 2012 2012:323.