AAL2 switching in the WCDMA radio access

network
Bo Karlander, Szilveszter Nádas, Sandor Rácz and Jonas Reinius

New switching technologies are needed in the access network of third- fer and switching methods are needed to de-
generation mobile networks to provide a cost-effective transmission of liver different kinds of services in a cost-
different kinds of services, such as AMR-coded voice and large band- effective and high-quality fashion. This ap-
width data. The use of ATM and AAL2 switching techniques in the traffic plies to both the
concentration nodes can significantly reduce the need for link capacity in • radio network layer, which is responsible
for transferring data over the WCDMA
the access network. The most important sources of these savings are the
air interface; and
statistical fluctuation of the number of AAL2 connections, the fluctuation • transport network layer, which is respon-
of the number of users at a base station due to mobility, and the granulari- sible for transferring data between the
ty of the ATM virtual channel cell rate. Ericsson’s offering of AAL2 switch- nodes (node B and RNC) of the radio ac-
ing technology enables operators to maximize these gains in the WCDMA cess network.
radio access network. Indeed, in large networks, this technology has the As specified by the Third-generation Part-
potential to triple the capacity of the transmission link. nership Project (3GPP), the transport net-
The authors describe the advantages of AAL2 switching in the WCDMA work layer for the WCDMA radio access
radio access network. They also include results from a study comparing network (RAN) is to use ATM transport
bandwidth requirements when traffic between node B and the RNC is network technology and protocols. ATM
aggregated either at the ATM layer, by means of switching AAL2 paths adaptation layer type 2 (AAL2) technology
is used for the dominant part of data trans-
using ATM cross-connect, or at the AAL2 layer, by means of dynamically
fer.
switching AAL2 connections. The authors also describe the general archi- The AAL2 protocol enables several user
tecture for terminating and switching AAL2 connections in Ericsson’s (radio network layer) connections to be
WCDMA RAN node products. multiplexed flexibly and efficiently on a
common ATM virtual channel connection
(VCC) between two nodes. The use of AAL2
switching in intermediate nodes has the po-
Introduction tential to yield significant statistical multi-
Third-generation mobile networks offer a plexing gains on transmission links that
wide variety of services, such as voice, carry aggregated traffic for multiple nodes
circuit-switched data, and packet-switched without loss of control over the quality of
data at bit rates ranging from a few kbit/s service of individual connections.
up to 384 kbit/s (eventually up to 2 Mbit/s).
In this environment, highly adaptive trans-
WCDMA RAN—transport
network architecture and
protocols
BOX A, TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS WCDMA RAN
3GPP Third-generation Partnership Project MAC Medium access control
Figure 1 gives a schematic view of a
AAL2 ATM adaptation layer type 2 Node B Radio base station, RBS WCDMA network, which consists of user
AMR Adaptive multirate (voice codec) O&M Operation and maintenance equipment (UE), the WCDMA terrestrial
ATM Asynchronous transfer mode PS 64 Packet-switched data at 64 kbit/s radio access network (WCDMA RAN), and
CAC Connection admission control PS 384 Packet-switched data at 384 kbit/s the core network.
(algorithm) PSTN Public switched telephone network
CBR Constant bit rate Q.2630 ITU AAL2 signaling protocol The WCDMA RAN handles all tasks that
CCH Common transport channel QoS Quality of service relate to radio access control, such as radio
CID Connection identifier RAB Radio access bearer resource management and handover control.
CN Core network RAN Radio access network The core network, which is the backbone of
CNA Concentration node area RLC Radio link control
CPP Connectivity packet platform RNC Radio network controller
WCDMA, connects the access network to
(formerly called Cello packet RXI CPP-based aggregation node external networks (PSTN, Internet). The
platform) SDH Synchronous digital hierarchy user equipment (mobile terminal or station)
CPS Common-part sub-layer (packet) SL1, 2, 3 Switching level one, two, three is connected to radio base stations (node B)
CS 64 Circuit-switched data at 64 kbit/s SRNC Serving RNC over the WCDMA air interface (Iu). During
DCCH Dedicated control channel STM Synchronous transfer mode
DCH Dedicated transport channel TTI Transmission time interval soft handover, one UE can communicate
DRNC Drift RNC UE User equipment with several node Bs simultaneously.
E1 ETSI 2 Mbit/s line interface UP User plane According to the WCDMA RAN speci-
GoS Grade of service VC Virtual channel fications drafted by the 3GPP, all radio net-
Iu Core network-to-radio network VCC Virtual channel connection
interface (3GPP) VCI Virtual channel identifier
work functions and protocols are separate
Iub Node B-RNC interface (3GPP) VPI Virtual path identifier from the functions and protocols in the
Iur RNC-RNC interface (3GPP) WCDMA Wideband code-division multiple transport network layer. The transport net-
LAC Link admission control access work layer provides data and signaling bear-

114 Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002

 CN Iu WCDMA RAN

RNC
Iub Uu

External Core
network network UE
Node B
Iur

RNC Figure 1
Schematic view of a WCDMA network.

ers for the radio network application proto- used by signaling radio bearers and by radio
cols between RAN nodes, and includes bearers for packet-switched data services,
transport network control-plane functions but not by radio bearers for circuit-switched
for establishing and releasing such bearers services.
when instructed to do so by the radio net- The medium access control (MAC) pro-
work layer. tocol forms sets of transport blocks in the air
The initial WCDMA RAN specifications interface and schedules them according to
stipulate that the transport network layer the timing requirements of WCDMA. Each
must be based on ATM and AAL2 technol- scheduled period, called a transmission time
ogy. However, Release 5 of the 3GPP spec- interval (TTI), is 10 ms in length or multi-
ifications also includes the option of an IP- ples thereof.
based transport network. WCDMA radio connections, or radio ac-
The focus of this article is on the design cess bearers (RAB), have bit rate values be-
of ATM- and AAL2-based transport net- tween 8 and 384 kbit/s. The size of the MAC
works with particular emphasis on the Iub transport block sets and length of the TTI
interface between the RNC and node B. are RAB-specific.
For data transfer over the Iub interface, the
AAL2 at the Iub interface MAC transport block sets are encapsulated
Figure 2 shows the ATM and AAL2-based into Iub frames according to the Iub user-
protocol stack at the Iub interface for trans- plane (UP) protocol for CCH or DCH data
ferring data streams on common transport streams. Each Iub user-plane data stream
channels (CCH) and dedicated transport needs a separate transport network connec-
channels (DCH) to the air interface. tion between the RNC and node B. The trans-
The retransmission mechanism of the port network thus establishes one AAL2 con-
radio link control (RLC) protocol ensures re- nection for each data stream. In Figure 2, the
liable transmission of loss-sensitive traffic AAL2 switch (optional) is used for building
over the air interface. The RLC protocol is aggregating transport networks.

Iub Uu (air interface) Figure 2

User-plane data transfer between the
RLC RLC RNC and node B.
MAC MAC
Iub UP for Iub UP for
DCH or CCH DCH or CCH

AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 WCDMA WCDMA

ATM ATM ATM

PHY PHY PHY

RNC AAL2 switch Node B UE

Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002 115

 Iur Iub Uu (air interface) the transfer delays via the DRNC. This is
particularly important for DCH data
RLC RLC
streams, which have strict timing require-
MAC MAC ments for soft handover. If an AAL2 switch-
Iur/Iub UP Iur/Iub UP ing network is built to interconnect multi-
for DCH for DCH ple RNCs and node Bs, then every AAL2
AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 WCDMA WCDMA
connection for DCH data streams can be set
up directly between the SRNC and node B
ATM ATM ATM
without passing the DRNC. This configu-
PHY PHY PHY ration further reduces transmission costs.
The AAL2 control plane (not shown in Fig-
SRNC DRNC or Node B UE
AAL2 switch ure 3) is terminated in every AAL2 switch-
ing node.
Figure 3 User frames are segmented and packed
User-plane data transfer between the SRNC and node B. into AAL2 common-part sub-layer (CPS)
packets, which are multiplexed into ATM
cells (Figure 4). The AAL2 payload can vary
AAL2 at the Iur interface in length (up to 45 bytes). The AAL2 head-
Mobile users sometimes move from radio er is 3 bytes in length. All ATM cells are 53
cells controlled by a serving RNC (SRNC) bytes in length, including a 5-byte header.
to radio cells controlled by another RNC, Thanks to AAL2 multiplexing, the AAL2
designated drift RNC (DRNC). The Iur in- packets from several AAL2 connections can
terface between the RNCs allows the SRNC be transported on one ATM virtual channel
to maintain contact with mobile users con- connection (VCC). Each ATM cell on the
nected via the air interface to one or more VCC can carry AAL2 packets from different
cells controlled by another RNC. The user- AAL2 connections. The connection identi-
plane protocol for the DCH data streams is fier (CID) field in each AAL2 packet head-
established between the SRNC and er identifies the AAL2 connection to which
node B. If the DRNC incorporates AAL2 the packet belongs, much the same as the
switching, an AAL2 layer connection can be virtual path identifier (VPI) and virtual
established from the SRNC to the channel identifier (VCI) fields in the ATM
node B—that is, without AAL2 connection cell header identify the ATM virtual chan-
termination in the DRNC—minimizing nel connection. 1, 2

QoS requirements and admission

control
The WCDMA RAN transport layer services
must meet stringent quality of service (QoS)
requirements. The most important measure
of QoS performance in the Iub and Iur in-
terfaces is maximum packet delay.3
To satisfy QoS requirements, AAL2 con-
nection admission control (CAC) is execut-
Figure 4 ed before a new AAL2 connection is set up
Assembly of ATM cells. in the system. Connection admission deci-
sions are based on the traffic descriptors and
AAL2 header
(3 bytes)
AAL2 packet QoS requirements assigned to the connec-
tions. The AAL2 admission control proce-
Conn 1 Conn 2 Conn 3 Conn 4 dure allocates bandwidth resources (from
available virtual channel and path identifi-
er resources) to AAL2 connections in the
STF transport network. If the requisite amount
(1 byte)
ATM
of resources is not available to accommodate
ATM
header header a new connection, it is rejected.
If AAL2 connections are transported in
PAD
end-to-end virtual circuits with resource al-
5 bytes ATM payload (48 bytes)
location, AAL2 connection administration
control is only executed at the end points of
ATM cell the virtual circuits (node B and RNC). How-

116 Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002

ever, if the resources along the path of an heart of Ericsson’s ATM and AAL2 trans-
AAL2 connection are not allocated end-to- port solutions. The node function that pro-
end, the CAC decisions are replaced by or vides the through-connection of an ATM
based on hop-by-hop link admission control virtual channel connection is called the
(LAC) decisions at every AAL2 switch along ATM VC cross-connect. Similarly, the node
the path. function that provides the through-
connection of an AAL2 connection is de-
noted AAL2 switching.
Transport network The 3GPP does not specify how ATM
functions layer connections are to be established and
released in the WCDMA radio access net-
Node types work. Ordinarily, permanent virtual chan-
The Ericsson WCDMA RAN system is nel or virtual path connections are config-
composed of three kinds of traffic-handling ured using network management actions. In
nodes: the 3GPP specifications, the establishment
• Different versions of node B are available and release of AAL2 connections is to be con-
for indoor and outdoor placement and to trolled dynamically and in real time by user
satisfy different needs for the air interface requests—that is, by the functions of the
and transport network capacity. One radio network layer. The AAL2 connections
node B can be configured to serve as a in the WCDMA radio access network are
transport network hub using ATM cross- controlled by Q.2630 signaling between the
connect and AAL2 switching techniques RNC and node B. This signaling can thus
to aggregate traffic to and from other be used for setting up connections in a
node Bs. switching transport network between the
• The radio network controller (RNC) is a node B and RNC. The network can be built
modular multi-subrack node. It is avail- up of multiple CPP nodes—for example, a
able in various sizes to satisfy different ca- tree structure of node Bs combined with
pacity needs. pure transport aggregating nodes, such as
• The RXI is a transport network node that the Ericsson RXI820 (Figure 5).
provides ATM cross-connect, AAL2 The internal cell-switching architecture
switching, and IP router services. This of the node allows the terminating function
fault-tolerant node is a single-subrack de- of each ATM VCC to be distributed to the
sign with numerous interface options and processor board or application-specific de-
a high-capacity switch core.
The WCDMA RAN system also includes
various other nodes not described in this ar-
ticle for operation and maintenance (O&M)
support.
The system platform
All of Ericsson’s WCDMA RAN nodes are
based on the same carrier-class technolo-
gy—the connectivity packet platform Figure 5
(CPP, formerly called Cello packet plat- RNC AAL2 switching network.
form). Modular and robust in design, CPP
AAL2 packets on
is is characterized by a multiprocessor con- RNC link
trol system with multiple processor levels,
and its use of cell-switching technology to
internally interconnect all types of proces-
sor boards, external interface boards and AAL2 switching
node
application-specific boards. CPP also in-
cludes functionality for terminating and AAL2 packets on AAL2 packets on
switching ATM and AAL2 connections and node B link node B-link

for terminating and routing IP traffic.4

Switching and termination of ATM and

AAL2 connections in CPP
The CPP solution for terminating and Node B Node B
switching ATM and AAL2 traffic is at the

Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002 117

 AAL2 connection
AAL2 path termination
ATM VCC AAL2 connection ATM VCC
termination

Cell switch Application

functions
E1 or e.g. RNC,
STM-1 node B

Line interface board

Processor board
ATM MUX AAL2 MUX

Internal AAL2 connection in node.

E1 or
STM-1
Switched AAL2 connection
Figure 6
Switching and termination of ATM virtual
channel and AAL2 connections in CPP Line interface board
nodes.

vice board on which the application func- Each ATM VCC used by an AAL2 path
tion that uses the connection resides. The is terminated by an AAL2 multiplexer func-
ATM line interface boards thus forward tion (located on the line interface board) that
ATM cells in either direction between the handles the AAL2 CPS layer, multiplexing
external line interface and cell switch. The and demultiplexing the AAL2 packets to
cell switch in CPP transfers ATM cells to and from ATM cells on the AAL2 path (an
and from connection-terminating boards in ATM VCC, see Figure 6).
the node, or to and from external interface For AAL2 connections that terminate
boards for cross-connected ATM VCCs. within the node, each AAL2 packet is car-
ried via the cell switch directly between the
line interface board and the application
board that terminates the AAL2 connection.
Figure 7 By contrast, for AAL2 connections that
VC-CC model. are switched through the node, each AAL2
packet is forwarded via the cell switch di-
RNC
rectly between the incoming and outgoing
line interface boards.
AAL2 packets are switched by hardware
Transport
network on the line interface boards and via the high-
capacity cell switch in the same way as ATM
cells are switched. Therefore, every traffic-
handling RAN node based on CPP tech-
nology can efficiently perform switching
CBR VCs within the AAL2 layer.

CBR VP WCDMA RAN transport

CAC
network topologies and
switching alternatives
Connection
Although it is possible to connect a
RBS distributor RBS node B to its RNC via a direct, physical
Node B AAL2 Node B point-to-point connection, more common-
connection ly an Iub connection is established via one

118 Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002

or more intermediate aggregation nodes. • VC-CC—use of ATM VC cross-
Connections from multiple node Bs can, in connect of AAL2 path VCCs in aggrega-
this way, be multiplexed onto the same tion nodes (Figure 7).
physical link interface to the RNC. • AAL2—dynamic switching of AAL2
The basic methods of multiplexing and connections between multiple downlink
concentrating traffic in the WCDMA RAN AAL2 paths and fewer uplink AAL2 paths
transport network are in aggregation nodes (Figure 8).
• physical-layer multiplexing, using SDH All AAL2 paths are assumed to be config-
network technology—one STM-1 inter- ured as constant bit rate (CBR) virtual chan-
face (155 Mbit/s) to the RNC can multi- nels with a fixed, guaranteed capacity. The
plex, for example, 63 E1 (2 Mbit/s) connection admission control function,
physical-layer connections to as many which operates on each AAL2 path, needs
node Bs; to know the total capacity of the AAL2 path
• ATM VP or virtual channel cross- to calculate the number of different kinds of
connect, using ATM network technolo- AAL2 connections that can be allowed on
gy—one STM-1 interface to the RNC can each AAL2 path while maintaining quality
multiplex several virtual channels repre- of service for every connection.
senting ATM layer connections to many
node Bs. The number of VCCs is the same Benefits of AAL2 switch-
at the RNC interface as the aggregated
number of VCCs at the node B interfaces; ing on the Iub interface
and
• AAL2 switching, using AAL2 network Evaluating the performance of AAL2
technology—one STM-1 interface to the switching
RNC can multiplex AAL2 connections to To evaluate the performance of AAL2
multiple node Bs on a common group of switching, we used a fast and accurate CAC
AAL2 paths between the RNC and an in- algorithm that takes into account the prop-
termediate node with AAL2 switching ca- erties of traffic across the Iub interface.5 The
pability. Other AAL2 paths are estab- transport network layer grade-of-service
lished between the intermediate node and (GoS) requirement of each RAB type is met
each node B. The AAL2 switching if the blocking probability of its connection
method is combined with ATM VC cross- remains below a given threshold, for exam-
connect in the intermediate node of end- ple, 0.3% for voice. Besides the offered traf-
to-end ATM VCCs between the RNC and fic (measured in Erlang), the blocking prob-
each node B; for example, for signaling
and O&M access.
These methods are typically combined—
that is, AAL2 switching is introduced on
top of ATM cross-connect, which is intro- Figure 8
AAL2 switching model.
duced on top of SDH multiplexing.
To accommodate AAL2 switching in in- RNC
termediate nodes, resources must be allo- CBR VCs
cated to process signaling for the set-up and
release of AAL2 connection and for multi- Transport
network
plexing and demultiplexing the AAL2 user-
plane.
Compared to an intermediate node, which AAL2
switching
merely cross-connects AAL2 path VCCs, CAC
each AAL2 switching node introduces some
CBR VCs
delay during connection set-up and trans-
port of the user-plane. The network design-
CBR VP
er must weigh these costs against possible
savings in transmission capacity and net-
CAC
work management, and decide to what ex-
tent AAL2 switching can be employed.
We have studied the gains in transmis-
sion capacity from AAL2 switching at dif- Connection
RBS distributor RBS
ferent aggregation levels for Iub traffic, com- Node B AAL2 Node B
paring two cases of network dimensioning: connection

Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002 119

 TABLE 1, CONSIDERED TRAFFIC MIX, USER LOAD IN MERLANG AND
GOS REQUIREMENT

mErlang per user Standard Data- Contains Target

oriented PS 384 GoS (%)
Voice 20.25 17.00 25.00 0.3
CS 64 2.25 1.00 - 0.3
PS 64 3.30 5.00 1.00 0.7
PS 384 - - 0.04 4.0

abilities also depend on the admission con- 64 kbit/s (PS 64) and packet-switched data
trol algorithm, and on the number of avail- at 384 kbit/s (PS 384). The evaluation also
able AAL2 paths (ATM VPs) between the took into account all common channels in a
two nodes. cell and a dedicated control channel
The connections were generated random- (DCCH) connection for each RAB.
ly in a simulator, and the packet-level traf- We ran simulations for different kinds of
fic descriptors were attributes of the gener- traffic mixes (Table 1). The results represent
ated connections. When a new connection a standard mix of voice (12.2 kbit/s AMR-
was generated in the simulator, the CAC al- coded), CS 64 and PS 64. Since many oper-
gorithms executed in the appropriate nodes ators do not intend to provide PS 384 bear-
in the access network, and we measured the ers when network load is heavy, it was rele-
blocking probabilities for each service. vant to study traffic mixes that excluded this
rate. The results from the other traffic mixes
Traffic parameters also favored AAL2 switching over VC cross-
During the simulation, different RAB types connect.
were considered for the following services: For each Iub interface, about 200 kbit/s
AMR-coded voice, circuit-switched data at was allocated for non-AAL2 control-plane
64 kbit/s (CS 64), packet-switched data at and O&M signaling.

Figure 9
Tree topology of the WCDMA RAN. RXI RAN aggregator

RNC
RBS Hub node B Switching level 3

RBS Node B RXI

Switching level 2

Switching
level 1
RBS
RBS
RBS RBS
RBS
RBS
RBS RBS RBS
RBS
RBS RBS RBS
RBS RBS
RBS
RBS
RBS RBS
RBS RBS

120 Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002

 Gain over
VC-CC (%)
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
200 300 600 1400 2800 3600 7200
One E1 node Figure 10
Two E1 nodes Reduced need for capacity for different
Four E1 nodes
Level-2 switching number of users and switching layers in
Level-2 and level-3 switching the 3x6 topology.

Note: While the gains from AAL2 capacity is needed to connect node B. Fig-
switching are typical, the results apply to a ure 10 shows how AAL2 switching reduces
specific traffic mix. The actual gains for the need for capacity in the link compared
other traffic volumes, mixes of voice and to VC-CC switching at SL2 and SL3 for dif-
data, and other activity factors for voice and ferent numbers of users per node B using the
packet data might vary. standard traffic mix. When the number of
users exceeds 600, two E1 access links are
Statistical gain at different traffic loads used. Likewise, when the number exceeds
We obtained the numerical results by sim- 2,800, four E1 access links are used.
ulating the network at the connection level. The gain in capacity from using AAL2
switching is calculated as follows:
Low traffic volume
Compared to VC-CC switching, the great- Gain=(CVC-CC – CAAL2) / CVC-CC
est reduction in bandwidth using AAL2
switching can be expected when traffic is where CVC-CC is the entire link capacity
light—for example, when only a small part (aggregated capacity at the considered level)
of the allocated bandwidth of the VCs is needed for VC-CC, and CAAL2 is the link
used. capacity needed for AAL2 switching.
Let us consider a tree network topology As can be seen, applying AAL2 switching
with three AAL2 switching nodes at switch- in SL2 reduces the consumption of link ca-
ing level 2 (SL2), and six node Bs connect- pacity by 35-60%. The gain in capacity ob-
ed to each concentration node (Figure 9). tained from AAL2 switching is especially
We call this topology the 3x6 topology. Ini- high (around 60%) when the use of SL1 links
tially, the link capacity at the lowest level is low. The gain is even greater (up to 65%)
is one E1 per node B. The number of users at SL3.
is less than 600 per node B (600 is the max- Thanks to the large gain in capacity from
imum number, assuming a standard or data- AAL2 switching, the operator can install
oriented mix). less capacity at SL2 and SL3 when first in-
For VC-CC switching, the required band- troducing service, and later upgrade the link
width is 14 Mbit/s for a switching node in capacity between switching nodes.
SL2, and 42 Mbit/s for a switching node in
SL3. Fully loaded system
We next increased the number of users Operators generally try to avoid loading the
served by a node B. Obviously, at some network to its limit. Nevertheless, they do
point, as the number of users grows, more need to determine the capacity limit and in-

Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002 121

 Gain over
VC-CC (%)
50

40

30

20
12x12
6x12
10
6x6
3x12 Topology
0
3x6
One E1 node B 3x3
Two E1 node Bs
Figure 11 Four E1 node Bs
Fully loaded system. Gain in level-2 and Level-2 AAL2 switching
Level-2 and level-3 switching
level-3 link capacity from AAL2 switching.

vestigate traffic cases close to this limit. QoS Compared to VC-CC switching, the gain
problems are more likely to occur when load in capacity increases as more node Bs are
is heavy. Figure 11 shows the gain in ca- added per SL2 switching node. Due to a ho-
pacity for the different network sizes with mogenous distribution of traffic among
up to twelve switching nodes in the second node Bs, the gain from AAL2 switching at
level, twelve node Bs connected to each SL2 is the same for configurations with the
switching node (12x12 topology), and a same number of node Bs per switching node
fully loaded system. (for example, 3x12, 6x12 and 12x12). By

TABLE 2, USER DISTRIBUTION THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Users per node B CNA1 CNA2 CNA3

Morning 1,400 2,800 2,800
Mid-day 2,800 1,400 2,800

122 Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002

applying AAL2 switching at L2 and L3, the TABLE 3, COMPARISON OF SWITCHING ALTERNATIVES
gain increases slightly as a function of the
number of switching nodes. VC-CC AAL2
The 3x6 topology used two E1s per node Statistical multiplexing capacity reduction No High (7 to 65%)
B (Figure 11): An 18 percent gain in capac- Reduction if traffic distribution changes No Yes (26 to 32%)
ity was obtained when AAL2 switching was QoS guarantee Yes, with CAC for Yes, with CAC for each
applied at level 2, and 25%, when applied each AAL2 path con- connection setup
at levels 2 and 3. figuration
Number of VCs minimized No Yes
Gain from changing traffic distribution
In general, the distribution of traffic among
node Bs is not homogenous. A concentrat-
ing switching node aggregates the traffic of
several node Bs. Therefore each switching from AAL2 switching is 26% on SL1 and
node has an associated serving area, which 32% on SL2.
we call the concentration node area (CNA).
Let us assume that a CNA covers an office
area and a residential area. Applying VC-CC
Conclusion
switching, we attempt to establish as many The performance of AAL2 switching is su-
VC connections between node Bs and the perior to that of VC-CC switching. In sev-
RNC as are needed to serve the sum of the eral network scenarios that use AAL2
maximum traffic of each node B. In this case, switching, the increased cost of processing
it does not matter that peak traffic occurs at AAL2 signaling is more than compensated
different hours in the office and residential for by significantly increased efficiency in
areas. the transmission network, and reduced costs
However, AAL2 switching allows the of transmission.
concentrated link capacity to be dimen- The savings are greater when there is lit-
sioned for the sum of the actual traffic in the tle traffic in the network—precisely when
CNA. the network operator needs most to keep
Consider a 3x6 topology, in which the costs down. AAL2 switching also consider-
node Bs are connected by two E1 links. The ably reduces the need for link capacity in a
maximum number of users in the switching fully loaded network with traffic concentra-
node areas is 2,800 per node B assuming a tion.
standard mix of traffic. Let us also assume By applying AAL2 switching, operators
that due to user mobility, the number of can significantly reduce the need for link ca-
users per node B changes over time (Table pacity since the network can adapt to
2). Compared to VC-CC switching, the gain changes in traffic levels.

REFERENCES

1 ITU-T Rec. I.363.2, “B-ISDN ATM

adaptation layer type 2 specification”
2 ITU-T Rec. Q.2630.1 and Q.2630.2, “AAL
Type 2 Signaling Protocol (Capability Set 1
and 2)”
3 3GPP TR 25.853, “Delay Budget within the
Access Stratum”
4 Kling, L.-Ö., Lindholm, Å., Marklund, L.
and Nilsson, G. B.: CPP—Cello packet
platform. Ericsson Review Vol 79(2002): 2,
pp. 68-75.
5 Sz. Malomsoky, S. Rácz and Sz. Nádas,
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Ericsson Review No. 3, 2002 123