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Counters in this document are not allowed to show to the customer
without permission.
Network Evaluation Methodology and
Expansion Solution Proposal
(RAN12.0)


Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
All rights reserved
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Important Notice:
Please send us your comments or requests via URNP-PS@huawei.com .
We will improve the quality of the material to meet your requirements ASAP.

Revision Record
Date Version CR ID Revision Description Author
2009-04-30
Initial
Version
Template for the network evaluation and
expansion proposal
Li Hong(51769)
2009-06-12 2.0
Give other options for some items like
CE,Iub,etc when the counters are not accurate.
Patch version are also detailed.
Li Hong(51769)
2009-07-12 2.1
According to the problems of the counters,
methodology updated accordingly.
Li Hong(51769)
2009-12-22 3.0
Expansion evaluation methodology is updated
and completed. Expansion solution is detailed.
Give wording for the whole document.
Li Hong(51769)
2010-08-18 4.0
Full document wording. Update the evaluation
and expansion for the HS-PDSCH codes license
resources. Update the HSDPA user experiences
evaluation. Update the RNC license evaluation
part.


Li Hong(51769)
2011-03-24 4.1
BHCA utility ratio is closely related to SPU CPU
usage and the evalution process is quite
complicated, so delete the BHCA utility part
Update to fit RAN12.0 version
Li Hong(51769)


Change Request (CR) Record
CR ID CR Originator CR Date CR Description CR Feedback





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Contents
1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 7
1.1 Network Evaluation Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 7
1.2 Scopes of this document .................................................................................................................................... 7
2 Network Evaluation Methodology .................................................................................................. 8
2.1 Network Evaluation Procedures ........................................................................................................................ 9
2.2 Evaluation Period ............................................................................................................................................ 10
2.3 Optimization Check before Give Expansion Suggestion ................................................................................ 10
2.4 Coverage evaluation ........................................................................................................................................ 11
2.5 RF Resource Evaluation .................................................................................................................................. 12
2.5.1 CE Utilization Status Evaluation ........................................................................................................... 12
2.5.2 Codes Utilization Ratio Evaluation ........................................................................................................ 13
2.5.3 Downlink Loading Evaluation ............................................................................................................... 15
2.5.4 Uplink RTWP Status Analysis ............................................................................................................... 16
2.6 HSDPA Subscriber Perception Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 17
2.7 Iub Transmission Evaluation ........................................................................................................................... 18
2.8 HSDPA Codes Evaluation ............................................................................................................................... 18
2.8.1 HS-PDSCH Codes License Evaluation .................................................................................................. 19
2.8.2 HS-SCCH Codes Utilization Evaluaton ................................................................................................. 20
2.9 RNC License Evaluation ................................................................................................................................. 20
2.10 RNC HW Evaluation ..................................................................................................................................... 21
2.10.1 SPU ...................................................................................................................................................... 21
2.10.2 DPU ..................................................................................................................................................... 21
2.11 Why 70% mean threshold is suggested? ....................................................................................................... 21
2.12 Evaluation Threshold Margin ........................................................................................................................ 24
3 Target Network Planning .............................................................................................................. 25
3.1 General Target Network Planning Strategy ..................................................................................................... 25
3.2 Expansion suggestion for Licenses limited scenario ....................................................................................... 26
3.3 Expanion suggestion for RF resources limited scenario.................................................................................. 27
3.4 Target Network Traffic Requirement............................................................................................................... 27
3.5 Target Network Configuation .......................................................................................................................... 27
3.5.1 Final NodeB Configuation ..................................................................................................................... 28
3.5.2 Final CE Configuation ........................................................................................................................... 29
3.5.3 Iub Transmission Configuration ............................................................................................................. 29

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Figures
Figure 2-1 Network expansion evaluation procedure.............................................................................................. 9
Figure 2-1 TP combined with EcIo to show the coverage situation ...................................................................... 11


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Tables
Table 3-1 Traffic increase and network expansion for operators target network ............................................. 27
Table 3-2 List of New Cells introduced ................................................................................................................ 28
Table 3-3 List of New Sites introduced ................................................................................................................. 28
Table 3-4 Final CE configuration .......................................................................................................................... 29
Table 3-5 Final Iub configuration .......................................................................................................................... 29


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Abbreviations
Abbreviations Detailed Description
TP Transport Propagation Delay, which defined in 3GPP
RTWP Received Total Wideband Power
TCP Total Carrier Power
CE Channel Element
HSDPA High speed downlink packet access
HSUPA High speed uplink packet access
CCH Common Channel
OVSF Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor



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1 Introduction

1.1 Network Evaluation Objectives
This document is for RAN10.0 and RAN11.0 version.
Network evaluation is very important to keep network competitive and healthy. Huawei
professional network evaluation provides the real time network performance and resources
utilization evaluation to give operators a full and on going figure of the network.
Network Evaluation mainly includes following aspects:
Network radio resources utility ratio analysis
Network hardware resources utility ratio analysis
Network transmission utility ratio analysis
Network major performance analysis
Network subscriber perception (HSPA) analysis
A deep, complete and professional network evaluation will benefit operator in the following
aspects:
Shows the potential problems and risks
Shows the current network bottlenecks
Overall understanding of network performance and potential limit
Basis of professional network expansion suggestion
1.2 Scopes of this document
This document provides detailed coverage, capacity and resources evaluation guidelines.
Section 2 gives the detailed introduction of the network evaluation. Evaluation procedures and
methodology are detailed in this part.
Section 3 gives the general description of the target network planning in term of expansion.



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2 Network Evaluation Methodology
KPI
HSPA
CETCPRTWP
123

CPU
Detailed network evaluation principles and procedures are depicted in this section.
The utilization ratio of RF resources including OVSF codes, CE, Power (TCP) and RTWP will
be analyzed, and rejection due to resource congestion will be evaluated as well.
HSPA user perception will be analyzed and used as the important reference for the situation
which total Power (TCP) or codes exceed the specified threshold.
Also, RNC hardware and transmission status at Iub interface will be analyzed.
These evaluation results are to be used for the network expansion suggestion.

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2.1 Network Evaluation Procedures

Figure 2-1 Network expansion evaluation procedure
As showed in Figure 1-2, there are 3 main steps for the network expansion evaluation:
Step1: Preparation and data sampling
Background of the network, existing network performance data are needed as the input of
the network evaluation. Huawei M2000 and NASTAR platform make the data
sampling very easy and convenient.
Performance
Data Sampling
Network Evaluation Network Evaluation
Report

RF resources
occupied by R99
exceed threshold?


Transmission
/Hardware Resources
Utilization exceed
threshold?

No
HSPA User
Experiences is
good or not?

No
Yes
Yes
Need
Transmission
/Hardware
Expansion
RF resources
occupied with
HSDPA exceed
threshold?

Potential Busy
Cell or Node B
Give optimization
suggestion for the
problem detected
Yes
END
Potential Busy
Cell or Node B
Yes
No
Check parameter
configuration

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Step2: Detect the problem and give optimization suggestion
From the network overall evaluation, some problems will be detected and could be solved
by optimization. Detailed optimization suggestion will be proposed in this phase.
Step3: Detailed analysis for expansion
Few steps are taken to evaluate the network and find the resources limitation aspects,
which could be used as the basis for the expansion solution.
For the Potential busy cells or NodeB, expansion such as add more carrier or NodeB is
suggested.
Detailed evaluation principles will be depicted in following sections.
2.2 Evaluation Period
To make a complete and accurate network evaluation and reflect the real situation of the
existing network, evaluation period definition is quite important. Based on the experiences
from Huawei, suggestion on evaluation period is given as following.
Sample data from late N days and get the most busy hour value (BH) in each day (24 hours),
so we will have N BHs. Then normally we give 3 evaluation period modes:
1) Get the maximum value in all these N BHs, that is : Final BH = max( BH N
1
, BH N
2,
...
BH N
n
)
2) Get the average value for all these N BHs, that is: Final BH = average(BH N
1
, BH N
2,
...
BH N
n
)
3) Select top 3 in all these N BHs, get the average value of these top 3 as the final value, that
is: Final BH = average( top 3(BH N
1
, BH N
2,
... BH N
n
))
Important notes:
N days mentioned above could be continuous or not continuous, could be one week
or one month, depends on the actual situation, normally continuously one week is
suggested.
Busy Hour (BH) value is defined as the hour which has the biggest traffic and leads
to highest RF resources utilization. For instance, BH for CE utilization is the hour
has the biggest CE consumption of one NodeB, so each Node B has only one CE BH
in each day, the same for other RF resources.
2.3 Optimization Check before Give Expansion Suggestion
For the resources especially RF resources limitation, some are caused by bad optimization or
wrong parameters setting, some are caused by too much traffic or both of them. So before we
come to the Need expansion conclusion, configuration and optimization parameters check
are the first important things to do.
If there are still congestions or high resources utilization after the optimization checking, then
expansion may be needed. More investigation which detailed in the following sections is
needed to identify the potential problems and give solutions.

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2.4 Coverage evaluation
Coverage problem needs to be considered in expansion. There are two ways to evaluate the
coverage situation of the existing commercial network. One is DT (Drive Test), another
efficient way is Huawei TP analyzer tools. More details are given in the following for TP
analyzer tools.
RSCP, Ec/Io and TP values (represents distance from user to base station) are contained in
PCHR data, TP analyzer will give clearly coverage status analysis with the PCHR data.
Plots example shown below (Ec/Io combined with TP value distribution):

Figure 2-2 TP combined with EcIo to show the coverage situation
Where,
1 TP means 3chips delay, which represents 234m distance. (1 chip represents 78m)
TP=0, means 0m~234m
TP=1, means 234m~2*234m

From the plots above, we can see that TP value smaller than 2 which means UE to NodeB distance
smaller than 702m occupies almost 80% areasmaller than 5 occupies more than 95% area.
At the same time Ec/Io better than -12dB occupies the most of the samples. So the coverage of
this network is pretty good.
TP analyzer could give results based on whole network or each RNC.
Also TP analyzer could analyze all the HSDPA throughput distribution, CQI, RSCP and Ec/Io
history data, based on these data, the HSDPA low throughput problem caused by poor
coverage will be identified.

Note:
Please apply TP analyzer tool from Li Hong (ID: 51769)


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2.5 RF Resources Evaluation
2.5.1 CE Utilization Status Evaluation
CE is the baseband resources for services in NodeB. CE utilization ratio represents the base
band resources consumption status of the NodeB. If the CE utilization ratio exceeds one
specified threshold of the total CE, that means CE resources are going to be the limitation of
the network. CE expansion is needed in this case.
Mean CE consumption and Max CE consumption in one NodeB at Busy Hour (BH) are used
for the evaluation.
Principles:
The CE utilization ratio analysis principle is shown below:
1The mean CE utilization ratio should not exceed 70% due to HUAWEIs experiences, if
yes, expansion is recommended.
2) Congestion ratio due to insufficient CE resources should be less than 0.5%.
If the mean CE utilization ratio doesnt exceed 70%, but he max CE consumption
(UL_Max_Used_CE_Number, DL_Max_Used_CE_Number) exceeds the CE license
configuration for one NodeB, congestion due to CE problems are also happened a lot at the
same time, then expansion is suggested.
Formulas to get the mean CE consumption in one NodeB are:
UL Mean CE Utility Ratio = UL_Mean_Used_CE_Number_in_BH /
Configured_UL_CE_Number
DL Mean CE Utility Ratio = DL_Mean_Used_CE_Number_in_BH /
Configured_DL_CE_Number
Where,

If in Non-RAN sharing case,
UL_Mean_Used_CE_Number_in_BH uses counter VS.LC.ULMean.LicenseGroup.Shared
DL_Mean_Used_CE_Number_in_BH uses counter VS.LC.DLMean.LicenseGroup.Shared
UL_Max_Used_CE_Number uses counter VS.LC.ULMax.LicenseGroup.Shared;
DL_Max_Used_CE_Number uses counter:VS.LC.DLMax.LicenseGroup.Shared;
Configured_UL_CE_Number could use counter:
VS.LC.ULCreditAvailable.LicenseGroup.Dedicated+VS.LC.ULCreditAvailable.Shared
Configured_DL_CE_Number could use counter:
VS.LC.DLCreditAvailable.LicenseGroup.Dedicated+VS.LC.DLCreditAvailable.Shared

If in RAN sharing case,
UL_Mean_Used_CE_Number_in_BH= VS.LC.ULMean.LicenseGroup +
VS.LC.ULMean.LicenseGroup.Shared;

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DL_Mean_Used_CE_Number_in_BH =VS.LC.DLMean.LicenseGroup +
VS.LC.DLMean.LicenseGroup.Shared;
UL_Max_Used_CE_Number = VS.LC.ULMax.LicenseGroup+VS.LC.ULMax.LicenseGroup.Shared;
DL_Max_Used_CE_Number= VS.LC.DLMax.LicenseGroup+VS.LC.DLMax.LicenseGroup.Shared;
Configured_UL_CE_Number could use counter:
VS.LC.ULCreditAvailable.LicenseGroup.Dedicated+VS.LC.ULCreditAvailable.Shared
Configured_DL_CE_Number could use counter:
VS.LC.DLCreditAvailable.LicenseGroup.Dedicated+VS.LC.DLCreditAvailable.Shared

Congestions due to insufficient CE could be sampled by the following counters:
VS.RRC.Rej.ULCE.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.ULCE.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.ULCE.Cong
VS.RRC.Rej.DLCE.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.DLCE.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.DLCE.Cong
Congestion ratio due to insufficient CE resources can be calculated and evaluated by following
formulas:
(VS.RRC.Rej.ULCE.Cong / VS.RRC.AttConnEstab.Sum) < 0.5 %
(VS.RRC.Rej.DLCE.Cong / VS.RRC.AttConnEstab.Sum) < 0.5 %
(VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.ULCE.Cong / VS.RAB.AttEstabCS.Conv) < 0.5%
(VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.DLCE.Cong / VS.RAB.AttEstabCS.Conv) < 0.5%
(VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.ULCE.Cong / (VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Str +
VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Int +VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Bkg)) < 0.5 %
(VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.DLCE.Cong /(VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Str + VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Int
+VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Bkg) )< 0.5 %


NOTECOUNTERs marked in blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.

2.5.2 Codes Utilization Ratio Evaluation
Codes here are the OVSF codes for both R99 and HSPA services. If the codes utilization ratio
exceeds one specified threshold, that means codes resources are going to be the limitation of
the network.
Normally mean codes consumption in one NodeB at Busy Hour (BH) is used for the
evaluation.

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Principles for the codes utilization are:
1) The mean codes utilization for R99 services should not exceed 70%.
2) Congestions due to insufficient codes in busy hour of the cell should not exceed 0.5%.
3) The mean codes utilization for total services should not exceed 70%
If 1is not met, the codes allocation between R99 services and HSDPA services can be
adjusted firstly according to the service distribution. If it is still not OK, then more carriers and
sites are suggested. If 2) is not met for a period of time, the adjustment suggestion is the same
to 1).
If 3) is not met, then more investigation is needed for the HSDPA single user perception.
Formulas to get the mean R99 codes utilization ratio in one NodeB are:
R99_Code_Utility_Ratio = R99_Mean_Used_Code_in_BH / R99 Available Codes
Where,
R99_Mean_Used_Code_in_BH = ( <VS.SingleRAB.SF4> + <VS.MultRAB.SF4> ) * 64 +
( <VS.MultRAB.SF8> + <VS.SingleRAB.SF8> ) * 32 + ( <VS.MultRAB.SF16> +
<VS.SingleRAB.SF16> ) * 16 + ( <VS.SingleRAB.SF32> + <VS.MultRAB.SF32> ) * 8 +
( <VS.MultRAB.SF64> + <VS.SingleRAB.SF64> ) * 4 + ( <VS.SingleRAB.SF128> +
<VS.MultRAB.SF128> ) * 2 + ( <VS.SingleRAB.SF256> + <VS.MultRAB.SF256> )
R99 Available Codes
=256-(Codes used by R99 CCH+Codes used by HUSPA downlink CCH + Codes used by HS-
SCCH of HSDPA + Minimum codes allocated to HSDPA*16
=256-(12+3+4+Minimum codes allocated to HSDPA*16) [simplified]
=256-(19+Minimum codes allocated to HSDPA*16) [More simplified]

For the codes consumption by all the services including CCH+ R99 + HSDPA, counters blow
can be used:
VS.RAB.SFOccupy means the mean codes used with all services.
VS.RAB.SFOccupy.MAX means the maximum codes used with all services.
So the total OVSF codes (R99+H) utilization at BH in each cell can be evaluated by this
formula:
Total_OVSF_Codes_Utilization=VS.RAB.SFOccuy/256
Congestions due to insufficient downlink codes can be sampled by the following counters:
VS.RRC.Rej.Code.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.Code.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.Code.Cong
Congestions due to insufficient codes in busy hour can be calculated and evaluated by
following:
(VS.RRC.Rej.Code.Cong / VS.RRC.AttConnEstab.Sum ) < 0.5%

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(VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.Code.Cong / VS.RAB.AttEstabCS.Conv) < 0.5%
(VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.Code.Cong / (VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Str + VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Int
+VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Bkg)) < 0.5%

NOTECOUNTERs marked in blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.


2.5.3 Downlink Loading Evaluation
TCP is used to assess the downlink power consumption, which represents the downlink
loading status. Evaluation of TCP power is helpful to avoid the congestion due to the
insufficient power in downlink.
Please be aware that the big TCP utility ratio may be caused also by the bad coverage.
Coverage problem must be eliminated before we come to the conclusion that power
resources are not enough because of too much traffic.
TCP for R99 services at busy hour (BH), Total TCP both with R99 services and HSPA services
at busy hourBHare under assessment here.
Principles for the TCP utilization are:
1) The mean R99 TCP Utility Ratio should not exceed 70%
2) The mean total TCP Utility Ratio ( R99+HSPA+Common channel) should not exceed
70%.
3) Congestion caused by insufficient TCP power are less than 0.5%.
If 1) is not met, then more carrier or more sites are suggested, if 2) is met, then more research
are needed on the HSDPA user perception experiences. If 3) is not met and exist for a long
period of time, then expansion may need.
Formulas are:
R99_TCP_Utility_Ratio = R99_Mean_TCP_in_BH / Configured_Total_Cell_TCP
Total_TCP_Utility_Ratio = Total_Mean_TCP_in_BH / Configured_Total_Cell_TCP
Where,
R99_Mean_TCP_in_BH uses counter VS.MeanTCP.NonHS
Total_Mean_TCP_in_BH uses counter VS.MeanTCP
Configured_Total_Cell_TCP is from configuration file.
And make the failures statistics which are caused by insufficient power, the counter are:
VS.RRC.Rej.DLPower.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.DLPower.Cong
VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.DLPower.Cong
Congestion ratio caused by insufficient TCP power can be calculated and evaluated by

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following:
(VS.RRC.Rej.DLPower.Cong / VS.RRC.AttConnEstab.Sum) <0.5 %
(VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.DLPower.Cong / VS.RAB.AttEstabCS.Conv) <0.5%
(VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.DLPower.Cong / (VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Str + VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Int
+VS.RAB.AttEstabPS.Bkg ) )< 0.5%

NOTECOUNTERs marked in blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.

2.5.4 Uplink Loading and RTWP Status Analysis
RTWP (Received Total Wideband Power) analysis is used to evaluate the uplink interference
and loading status. High RTWP may be caused by high traffic or serious interference,
interference factor must be eliminated before RTWP value used for uplink loading evaluation.
If theres no external interference, RTWP value in the daytime could represent the traffic status
in the uplink.
Principles are:
RTWP should not exceed 1dB over the RTWP baseline with target loading of the network (e.g.
If target loading is 75%, then the normal target RTWP baseline should be around -100dBm, so
if actual RTWP value is higher than -100dBm) and HSUPA single user throughput is low, e.g.
lower than 256Kbps (this value can be adjusted according to the customers requirement,
could use counter VS.HSUPA.MeanChThroughput), then expansion is possibly needed.
Since RTWP is easily influenced by the external interference, so the RTWP results are just for
reference and cannot be used for the direct reason of expansion.

Formula and Counters for RTWP:
VS.MeanRTWP
VS.MinRTWP
VS.MaxRTWP

NOTECOUNTERs marked in blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.
Plus, since RAN12.0 on, new counters are designed to reflect the uplink power congestions
status to help us understand more about the uplink loading situation. The related counters in
cell level are shown below:
VS.RRC.Rej.ULPower.Cong : Number of RRC connection rejects because of UL Power
Congestion
VS.RAB.FailEstabCS.ULPower.Cong: Number of failed CS RAB Establishments because of
UL Power Congestion
VS.RAB.FailEstabPS.ULPower.Cong: Number of failed PS RAB Establishments because of
UL Power Congestion


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2.6 HSDPA Subscriber Perception Evaluation
HSDPAHSDPA Total TCP/Codes

HSDPA mean throughput per user at BH is important to help the operators to understand the
user experiences of the HSDPA service, also it helps us to decide whether network need to be
expanded when the total TCP/codes utility ratio exceed the specified threshold (70%).
If the TCP/codes utilization exceeds the specified threshold, and the HSDPA mean throughput
per user is lower than a threshold, e.g. lower than 300Kbps (This value could be changed due
to the actual situation or requirement from operator), then the high TCP/Codes utilization are
surely caused by too much traffic, expansion is suggested accordingly.
But if the HSDPA mean throughput per user is at normal level or very good, normally
expansion is not needed except operator wants even higher HSDPA throughput due to
marketing strategy.
Formulas suggested to evaluate the HSDPA mean throughput per user at busy hour are shown
below:
RNC Cell Level HSDPA mean throughput per user
RNC Cell level Mean HSDPA user throughput (Kbps) uses counter
VS.HSDPA.MeanChThroughput
This counter is also calculated from: VS.HSDPA.MeanChThroughput =
VS.HSDPA.MeanChThroughput.TotalBytes / VS.HSDPA.MeanChThroughput.Times

Also new counters are under investigation, which will differentiate the RNC buffer data size to
eliminate the impact of no data request cases. New counters will be more accurate to represent
the real HSDPA user throughput.

Furthermore, NodeB counters are also provided by Huawei to reflect the MAC-hs scheduling
throughput, the formula is as below:
NodeB Cell level Mean HSDPA user throughput (Kbps) = VS.DataOutput.UserData /
VS.RabNumAve.UserData

Normally the HSDPA user throughput of NodeB level is higher than RNC level since size of
user buffer has less impact on them. But value of HSDPA user throughput of NodeB level and
RNC level are totally the same with FTP services.

NOTECOUNTERs above are not suggested to show to the customer.

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2.7 Iub Transmission Evaluation with NodeB Counter
Iub transmission utilization ratio is used to understand the transmission configuration for each
NodeB is enough or not. The basic principle is that Iub utility ratio of each NodeB should not
exceed 80% according to Huaweis experience.

Formulas are shown below:
Iub utility ratio_ DL = NODEB_Throughput_DL / NODEB_Trans_Cap_DL
Iub utility ratio_ UL = NODEB_Throughput_UL / NODEB_Trans_Cap_UL

Where,
NODEB_Throughput_DL =(VS.ATMDLAvgUsed.1 + VS.ATMDLAvgUsed.2 + VS.ATMDLAvgUsed.3 +
VS.ATMDLAvgUsed.4) + (VS.IPDLAvgUsed.1 + VS.IPDLAvgUsed.2 + VS.IPDLAvgUsed.3 + VS.IPDLAvgUsed.4)
NODEB_Throughput_UL = (VS.ATMULAvgUsed.1 + VS.ATMULAvgUsed.2 + VS.ATMULAvgUsed.3 +
VS.ATMULAvgUsed.4) + (VS.IPULAvgUsed.1 + VS.IPULAvgUsed.2 + VS.IPULAvgUsed.3 + VS.IPULAvgUsed.4)
NODEB_Trans_Cap_DL= (VS.ATMDLTotal.1 + VS.ATMDLTotal.2 + VS.ATMDLTotal.3 + VS.ATMDLTotal.4) +
(VS.IPDLTotal.1 + VS.IPDLTotal.2 + VS.IPDLTotal.3 + VS.IPDLTotal.4)
NODEB_Trans_Cap_UL= (VS.ATMULTotal.1 + VS.ATMULTotal.2 + VS.ATMULTotal.3 + VS.ATMULTotal.4) +
(VS.IPULTotal.1 + VS.IPULTotal.2 + VS.IPULTotal.3 + VS.IPULTotal.4)

Note: Counters above are NodeB level.
NOTECOUNTERs marked in red/blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.

2.8 Iub Transmission Evaluation with RNC Counter
Please be aware that the Iub transmission evaluation with RNC counters is quite complicated
since the Iub signaling and user plane bandwidth need to be differentiated between
NCP/CCP/ALCAP or ANIs. We strongly suggest you to make the evaluation by using the
OMSTAR audit platform.
2.8.1 Iub Signaling Plane Utility Ratio
The basic principle of Iub signaling plane utility is that the signaling Plane utility ratio at busy
hour should not above 70% according to Huaweis experience. Busy Hour (BH) is defined as
the hour with the highest NCP DL (NCP UL CCP DL, CCP UL, ALCAP UL or ALCAP DL)
throughput during the whole evaluation period.
Please be noted that for the ATM transmission mode, the signaling ALCAP/NCP/CCP are
configured on SAAL which needs separate bandwidth configuration, so the signaling
bandwidth utilization needs to be evaluated, while for IP transmission mode, the signaling
ALCAP/NCP/CCP are with SCTP which doesnt need separate bandwidth, since the priority
of SCTP is always higher than user plane, so the signaling bandwidth utilization of IP
transmission mode doesnt need additional evaluation.

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So only the formulas for the ATM mode are detailed below.
Formulas are:
Signaling Plane Utility Ratio = Signaling_Throughput_in_BH/Configured_Signaling_Plane_Bandwidth
Signaling Plane bandwidth (Signaling_Throughput_in_BH) of NCP, CCP and ALCAP need to be
calculated respectively, with the following counters:
VS.SAALLNK.PVCLAYER.TXBYTES*8/1000/3600 for ATM downlink
VS.SAALLNK.PVCLAYER.RXBYTES*8/1000/3600 ATM for uplink
VS.SCTP.TX.BYTES*8/1000/3600 for IP downlink
VS.SCTP.RX.BYTES*8/1000/3600 for IP uplink
Configured_Signaling_Plane_Bandwidth comes from configuration file.
NOTECOUNTERs marked in blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.

2.8.2 Iub User Plane Utility Ratio
The basic principle of Iub signaling plane utility is that the signaling Plane utility ratio at busy
hour should not above 70% according to Huaweis experience. Busy Hour (BH) is defined as
the hour with the highest IUB throughput during the whole evaluation period.

Formulas are shown below:
User Plane Utility Ratio = Total_User_Throughput_in_BH/Configured_User_Plane_Bandwidth
Where, Total_User_Throughput_in_BH is constructed with the following factors:
VS.AAL2PATH.PVCLAYER.TXBYTES*8/1000/3600 for ATM downlink
VS.AAL2PATH.PVCLAYER.RXBYTES*8/1000/3600 for ATM uplink
VS.IPPATH.IPLAYER.TXBYTES*8/1000/3600 for IP downlink
VS.IPPATH.IPLAYER.RXBYTES*8/1000/3600 for IP uplink
Total_Configured_User_Plane_Bandwidth is from configuration file
NOTECOUNTERs marked in blue above are not suggested to show to the customer.
2.9 HSDPA Codes Evaluation
2.9.1 HS-PDSCH Codes License Evaluation
HS-PDSCH codes configuration are license controlled, for S111 sites configuration, 45 per
NodeB is the maximum available value. Normally this value is calculated according to the cell
average HSDPA throughput.
The HS-PDSCH codes utilization at the whole NodeB can be evaluated by the following
formula:

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HS-PDSCH Codes_Utilization_NodeB
= VS.PdschCodeUsed.Mean / VS.PdschCodeAvail.Mean
Where,
VS.PdschCodeUsed.Mean means the average number of codes used by all the HS-
PDSCHs one TTI in the cell.
VS.PdschCodeAvail.Mean means the average number of codes available for HS-PDSCHs in
one TTI in the cell.
Important Notice: The two counters above only available since RAN11 (including).
2.9.2 HS-SCCH Codes Utilization Evaluaton
Mean utilization of HS-SCCH codes at BH can be evaluated by the following formula:
HS-SCCH Codes_Utilization_Cell = VS.ScchCodeUtil.Mean
2.10 RNC License Evaluation
RNC license evaluation gives operators a picture what is the license utilization status and help
to expand license before it gets congested.
RNC license evaluation includes: CS, PS, HSDPA, HSUPA, etc.
The basic principle is that expansion is needed if RNC license utility ratio exceeds 80%.
Formulas are:
CS license utility ratio= CS_Traffic_BH/ CS_License
PS license utility ratio= PS_Traffic_BH/ PS_License
HSDPA license utility ratio= HSDPA_Traffic_BH / HSDPA_License
HSUPA license utility ratio= HSUPA_Traffic_BH / HSUPA_License

Where,
CS_License, PS_License, HSDPA_License, HSUPA_Lice nse are the license configuration,
can be read from the RNC.
In Non RAN Sharing case,
CS_Traffic_BH = VS.CSLoad.Erlang.Equiv.RNC
PS_Traffic_BH = VS.R99PSLoad.DLThruput.RNC+VS.R99PSLoad.ULThruput.RNC+
VS.HSDPAPSLoad.DLThruput.RNC+ VS.HSUPAPSLoad.ULThruput.RNC
HSDPA_Traffic_BH = VS.HSDPAPSLoad.DLThruput.RNC
HSUPA_Traffic_BH = VS.HSUPAPSLoad.ULThruput.RNC

In RAN sharing case,

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CS_Traffic_BH = VS.CSLoad.Erlang.Equiv.PLMN.RNC
PS_Traffic_BH = VS.R99PSLoad.DLThruput.PLMN.RNC+
VS.R99PSLoad.ULThruput.PLMN.RNC +S.HSDPAPSLoad.DLThruput.PLMN.RNC+
VS.HSUPAPSLoad.ULThruput.PLMN.RNC
HSDPA_Traffic_BH = VS.HSDPAPSLoad.DLThruput.PLMN.RNC
HSUPA_Traffic_BH = VS.HSUPAPSLoad.ULThruput.PLMN.RNC
2.11 RNC HW Evaluation
2.11.1 SPU
Two parts of SPU need to be evaluated: SPU CPU and BHCA capability.
SPU CPU utilization can be evaluated by the counter for each SPU sub system:
VS.XPU.CPULOAD.MEAN (unit: %)
Shown case is as following for an RNC.



2.11.2 DPU
DPU utilization for each DPU can be evaluated by this counter: VS.DSP.UsageAvg
2.12 Why 70% mean threshold is suggested?
It is very easy to understand that when the total resources utilization exceeds 90% or
approaching 100%, the possibility of congestion increases sharply.
In one specified busy hour, the peak resources utilization has a close relation with mean
resources utilization. Before we identify the threshold for the mean resources utilization, lets
have a look on the relations between them first.
We take the sample from two commercial networks.
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
0
0
:
0
0
0
1
:
0
0
0
2
:
0
0
0
3
:
0
0
0
4
:
0
0
0
5
:
0
0
0
6
:
0
0
0
7
:
0
0
0
8
:
0
0
0
9
:
0
0
1
0
:
0
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
4
:
0
0
1
5
:
0
0
1
6
:
0
0
1
7
:
0
0
1
8
:
0
0
1
9
:
0
0
2
0
:
0
0
2
1
:
0
0
2
2
:
0
0
2
3
:
0
0
l
o
a
d
RNC 50 SPU CPU Load
SPU:0:2:1
SPU:0:2:2
SPU:0:2:3
SPU:0:4:0
SPU:0:4:1
SPU:0:4:2
SPU:0:4:3
SPU:1:2:1
SPU:1:2:2
SPU:1:2:3

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Commercial Network A:
5 cells are taken for analysis, PAR in the whole day for HS-PDSCH codes resources are
showed.
Cell 1

Cell 2


Cell 3


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Cell 4


Cell 5


From 5 figures above, we can see that in most busy hour, the PAR value is low, in least busy
hour the PAR is much higher. The reason should be: in the least busy hour, the average
resources utilization is low, but best effort users still existing in the cells would consume more
freed resources, which lead to high PAR.
So the PAR in the busy hour is what we need to pay attention to. The average PAR value of the
5 cells above is around 30~40%.

Commercial Network B:
163 samples are taken for analysis in network B, values of each cells are sampled from 0:00 Am to
23:00PM.

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From the two figures above, it is easy for us to find that the PAR is changing periodically, PAR
goes lower than 1.5 in busy hour and increases higher than 2 in non-busy hour.

Final conclusion:
PAR at busy hour is around 30%~40%, to avoid the peak resources utilization exceed 100%,
the mean utilization ratio should be lower than 70%~75%, so 70% is suggested as the safe
value for mean resources utilization ratio.
2.13 Evaluation Threshold Margin
The utility ratio thresholds mentioned in the above sections are normally 70% or 80%. In the
real deployment situation, 5~6 months are needed to finish the procedure of proposal confirm,
PO, shipping, installation and tuning. So some threshold margin is suggested to avoid serious
congestion before the expansion finished.

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Normally 10%~20% is suggested, that means the threshold of resources which trigger the
expansion should be around 50%~60%. This margin could be adjusted due to the actual
situation.

3 Target Network Planning

1License Iub
CE license Iub

2

This chapter gives the target network planning for expansion. The planning results and
detailed configuration are based on the existing traffic sampled from the real network and the
traffic improvement forecast from the operator.
3.1 General Target Network Planning Strategy
If the network is only limited by license i.e CE license, Codes License or RNC license, then
only licenses expansion are enough.
If the network is limited by the RF resources like codes, TCP, etc, then adding more carrier or
NodeB are necessary, licenses expansion may also need due to actual requirement.
Expansion is not only to solve the existing congestion problem but to meet the requirement in
one period of time in the future, so future network forecast is needed. This forecast can be
done by operator or with Huawei together. Huawei professional expansion planning tool could
support to make an efficient expansion planning.

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3.2 Expansion suggestion for Licenses limited scenario
If network is only licenses limited, then licenses expansion is suggested. Shown as following:
CE license limited case
Formulas for the final required CE
UL_Required_CE = UL_Used_CE / CE_expansion_factor
DL_Required_CE = DL_Used_CE/ CE_expansion_factor
Where,
UL_Used_CE, and DL_Used_CE is the actual uplink and downlink CE used at existing
network, counters have been detailed in section 2.3.1
CE_Expansion_factor is the expected CE utilization ratio after expansion, at least 0.6 is
suggested for it according to Huaweis experiences.
If UL_Required_CE or DL_Required_CE > NodeB hardware capability, then more
NodeB baseband are required for expansion.

NodeB HSDPA Codes license limited case
Formulas for required HSDPA codes license:
Required_PdschCode = VS.PdschCodeUsed.Mean.NodeB / PdschCode_Expansion_Factor
Where,
PdschCode_Expansion_Factor is the expected HSDPA codes utilization ratio after expansion,
at least 0.6 is suggested due to Huaweis experiences.
If Required_PdschCode > Cells Number per NodeB * 15, that means only codes expansion
cannot meet the requirement anymore, more carrier or NodeB are required in this case.

Iub transmission limited case
Also, if network is only Iub transmission bandwidth limited, the following expansion method
is suggested:
Iub_bandwidth_required = Iub_bandwidth_used/Iub_expansion_factor
Where,
Iub_bandwidth_required is the final Iub bandwidth configuration.
Iub_bandwidth_used is the Iub transmission bandwidth already used, which is detailed in
section 2.5.
Iub_expansion_factor is the Iub utilization ratio expected, at least 0.6 is suggested due to
Huaweis experiences.


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3.3 Expanion suggestion for RF resources limited scenario
Solutions are detailed in this section for the case of RF resource is limited.
Solve coverage problem in expansion
If the coverage is not good, adding more sites (macro sites or micro sites) is the only way to
solve the problem. In the suburban or rural area, improve the coverage by increasing the
transmit power (e.g. from 20W/carrier to 40W/carrier) is also a possible solution. But this
solution still cannot solve coverage problem if network is uplink coverage limited.
Solve capacity problem in expansion
New features (e.g. Dynamic CE allocation for HSUPA, SRB over HSPA, HSPA+, etc)
introduction is suggested to be the first priority to release capacity pressure. New feature
introduction is easy to introduce and has the lowest cost.
Adding more carriers is suggested to be the second priority solution if frequency resources are
available. Adding carriers is an efficient way to improve the capacity.
Add macro/micro sites is also a expansion solution if adding more carrier is not applicable.
Please be aware that due to Huaweis research, adding transmit power in dense urban / urban
is much less effective than adding new carrier or micro-cell. The capacity improvement by
adding power from 20W to 40W in dense urban and urban area is around 5% or even less.
Adding carrier power could solve part of the coverage and capacity problem in Suburban and
Rural area, but still is not an efficient way compare to adding sites.

In the following section, we will give a example of the whole network expansion.
3.4 Target Network Traffic Requirement
The traffic increase and network expansion strategy in 2 years for operator is shown below.
HSPA+ is introduced to improve the cell capacity and user experiences in Year 1 and Year 2.
Table 3-1 Traffic increase and network expansion for operators target network
Item Now Year1 Year2
Cumulative Subscribers 17740 25733 39601
Voice Traffic growth
rate
37437 150% 180%
VP Traffic growth rate 700 120% 130%
Cumulative new sites 0 100 200
Ratio of 2
nd
carrier sites 20% 50% 80%
Ratio of HSPA+
64QAM
0 60% 100%
3.5 Target Network Configuation
According to current radio resource utility ratio and target network scale, radio resource
requirement could be analyzed and calculated in advance for network expansion design.

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Traffic increase predicted by operator and the traffic/configuration information sampled
from the existing network are used to make the calculation.
Huawei professional UMTS network expansion planning tools can support the high efficiency
calculation.
3.5.1 Final NodeB Configuation
The network needs to be re-planned with the exact traffic requirements in the future. More
carriers or sites may need to address the traffic increase. If more sites are introduced, then the
CE configuration or Iub configuration for each NodeB need to be re-considered.
In operators network, 1 more carriers are introduced to meet the capacity requirement.
Also few new sites are introduced to meet the coverage and capacity requirement in part of the
area, the final configuration is shown below:
Table 3-2 List of New Cells introduced
RNC ID
Node B
Name
New Cell ID
NodeB configuration after new cells
introduced
181 UPENDT01 3762 S222
181 UPECRU04 3183 S222
181 UPECRU01 3155
181 UPENDT03 2085
181 UPEEPH02 2048
185 UCECUC03 2535
185 UCEPAR09 2512
185 UCEEDS08 2408
185 UCEPIC04 2390
185 UCEPAR03 3499
.
Table 3-3 List of New Sites introduced
RNC ID New NodeB Name New NodeB Configuration
181 UPENDN08 S111
181 UPECRN 04 S222
181 UPECRN01 S111
181 UPENDN03
181 UPEEPN02
185 UCECUN03
185 UCEPAN09
185 UCEEDN08
.


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3.5.2 Final CE Configuation
According to the evaluation result in 2.5.1 , UL CE is the bottleneck in the network. HSDPA
wouldnt consume any CE due to HUAWEIs separate chipset design for HSDPA.
After introducing the new carrier and new NodeB in the network, the final CE configuration
for each NodeB is shown below.
Table 3-4 Final CE configuration
RNC ID Node B Name NodeB ID
Old CE
configuration
New CE configuration
181 UPENDT01 376
128
384
181 UPECRU04 3183
128
384
181 UPECRU01 3155
128
384
181 UPENDT03 2085
128
384
181 UPEEPH02 2048
128
384



185 UCEEDN08 477
0
128




3.5.3 Iub Transmission Configuration
The final Iub transmission configuration is shown in the following table:
Table 3-5 Final Iub configuration
RNC ID Node B Name NodeB ID

Old Iub
configuration
New Iub
Throughput
New Iub
Configuration
181 UPENDT01 376
1.2Mbps
3.5Mbps 2E1