AQM Feature Parameter Description

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The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made in the
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recommendations in this document do not constitute the warranty of any kind, express or implied.

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Contents

Contents
1 Introduction to This Document .............................................................................................1-1
1.1 Scope ............................................................................................................................................ 1-1
1.2 Intended Audience ........................................................................................................................ 1-1
1.3 Change History.............................................................................................................................. 1-1

2 Overview .....................................................................................................................................2-1
3 Technical Description ..............................................................................................................3-1
4 Engineering Guidelines...........................................................................................................4-1
5 Parameters .................................................................................................................................5-1
6 Counters......................................................................................................................................6-1
7 Glossary ......................................................................................................................................7-1
8 Reference Documents .............................................................................................................8-1

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1 Introduction to This Document

1 Introduction to This Document

1.1 Scope
This document describes active queue management (AQM) algorithm description in the AQM feature.

1.2 Intended Audience

It is assumed that users of this document are familiar with GPRS basics and have a working knowledge
of GPRS telecommunication.
This document is intended for:
z

Personnel working on Huawei GPRS products or systems

System operators who need a general understanding of this feature

1.3 Change History

The change history provides information on the changes in different document versions.
There are two types of changes, which are defined as follows:
z

Feature change
Feature change refers to the change in the AQM feature of a specific product version.

Editorial change
Editorial change refers to the change in wording or the addition of the information that was not
described in the earlier version.

Document Version
The document issues are as follows:
z

02 (2009-09-30)

01 (2009-06-30)

02 (2009-09-30)
This is the second commercial release of GBSS9.0.
Compared with 01 (2009-06-30) of GBSS9.0, issue 02 (2009-09-30) of GBSS9.0 incorporates the
changes described in the following table.
Change Type

Change Description

Parameter Change

Feature change

None.

None.

Editorial change

The template of the document is optimized.

None.

01 (2009-06-30)
This is the first commercial release of GBSS9.0.
Compared with 02 (2009-04-30) of GBSS8.1, issue 01 (2009-06-30) of GBSS9.0 has no change.

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2 Overview

2 Overview
Active queue management (AQM) is an algorithm used to maintain the buffer queue length within an
appropriate range by discarding data packets in the buffer queue actively. It increases data throughput
and reduces service delay at the price of buffer utilization.
AQM applies to scenarios in which bandwidth is limited and congestion is likely to occur. AQM not only
ensures high link utilization but also reduces the delay of services that require low transfer delay. It also
enhances fair utilization of bandwidth among services and increases data throughput.
Compared with the wired link bandwidth, the wireless link bandwidth is small. Therefore, the wireless link
bandwidth is a bottleneck for end-to-end data transfer. AQM can relieve network congestion due to
excessive TCP data streams. When network congestion occurs, AQM discards data packets actively
according to the packet discarding policy. After detecting packet loss, the TCP receiver informs the TCP
transmitter of the packet loss by using the retransmission acknowledgement mechanism. Then, the TCP
transmitter decreases the size of the transmit window according to the congestion control mechanism,
thus reducing the transmission rate and relieving network congestion.
At present, most data services use the transmission control protocol (TCP) protocol. The TCP protocol,
however, has its limitations. When multiple TCP connections are set up at the same time in the
communications system, one TCP connection may occupy a high bandwidth, and thus the transfer delay
is long for other connections. For example, a user clicks a button on an hyper text transfer protocol
(HTTP) web page when file transfer protocol (FTP) downloading is ongoing. In such a case, a long time
elapses before the corresponding web page is displayed because the link resource is occupied by the
FTP service. If AQM is used, it discards packets of services with excessive traffic flow actively and
ensures high link utilization. This decreases the data transmission rate and thus reduces the delay of
services that require low transfer delay. This also enhances fair utilization of bandwidth among services.
AQM is applicable to interactive services, background services, and best effort (BE)services (namely,
services without QoS requirements). It is not applicable to conversational services or streaming services.

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3 Technical Description

3 Technical Description
Parameters
Before AQM takes effect, you must configure related parameters. That is, you must set AQM Switch to
Open to enable AQM. In addition, you must set the following parameters related to AQM according to a
specific application scenario:
z

AQM Congestion Threshold

This parameter specifies the lower threshold at which the buffer queue is congested. If the buffer
queue length exceeds this threshold, packets are discarded actively.

AQM Maximum Threshold

This parameter specifies the upper threshold at which the buffer queue is congested. If the buffer
queue length exceeds this threshold, a packet is discarded each time a packet arrives at the queue.

AQM Target Threshold

This parameter specifies the target threshold at which the buffer queue is congested. This parameter
is used to adjust the interval at which packets are discarded.

Aqm Ninit
This parameter specifies the initial value of the interval (indicated by N) at which a packet in the buffer
queue is discarded. The value of N indicates the frequency at which packets are discarded. If the
value of N is large, the frequency of discarding packets is low and thus a fewer number of packets are
discarded over a certain period of time.

AQM Packet Discard Interval Lower Threshold

This parameter specifies the lower threshold of the interval (indicated by N) at which a packet in the
buffer queue is discarded.

AQM Packet Discard Interval Upper Threshold

This parameter specifies the upper threshold of the interval (indicated by N) at which a packet in the
buffer queue is discarded.

Aqm M
This parameter specifies the frequency (indicated by M) of updating the value of N, that is, how many
packets are transmitted before the value of N is updated.

AQM Policy for Discarding Packets

AQM is implemented in the BSC. For interactive services, background services, or BE services, AQM
manages the buffer queue of downlink LLC PDUs of each MS.
The key to the AQM algorithm is the packet discarding policy, which varies according to the AQM
algorithm. The packet discarding policy of Huawei AQM algorithm is as follows:
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If the length of the buffer queue is smaller than AQM Congestion Threshold, no packet is discarded.

If the length of the buffer queue is greater than AQM Congestion Threshold and smaller than AQM
Maximum Threshold, a packet is discarded each time N packets arrive at the queue.

If the length of the buffer queue is greater than AQM Maximum Threshold, a packet is discarded
each time a packet arrives at the queue. The two methods of discarding packets are tail drop and head
drop. The AQM algorithm uses the head drop method.

Based on the relations among the length of the buffer queue, AQM Congestion Threshold, and AQM
Target Threshold, the AQM algorithm adjusts the interval at which packets are discarded. The AQM
algorithm changes the value of N based on the value of M. The algorithm of adjusting the value of N
dynamically is as follows:
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3 Technical Description
z

If the length of the buffer queue is greater than AQM Target Threshold and smaller than AQM
Maximum Threshold, the value of N is decreased by one each time M packets arrive at the queue.
Thus, the number of packets that are discarded over a certain period of time increases. When the
value of N reaches AQM Packet Discard Interval Lower Threshold, it no longer decreases.

If the length of the buffer queue is greater than AQM Congestion Threshold and smaller than AQM
Target Threshold, the value of N is increased by one each time M packets arrive at the queue. Thus,
the number of packets that are discarded over a certain period of time decreases. When the value of N
reaches AQM Packet Discard Interval Upper Threshold, it no longer increases.

Technologies Related to AQM

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Methods of discarding packets

AQM supports two methods: head drop and tail drop. In the head drop method, packets at the head of
the buffer are discarded when necessary. In the tail drop method, new packets are discarded when
necessary. The response speed in the head drop method is faster than that in the tail drop method. In
addition, in the head drop method, packets are not continuously discarded. Thus, Huawei AQM
algorithm uses the head drop method.

Service types supported by AQM

AQM is applicable to interactive services, background services, and BE services. It is not applicable to
conversational services or streaming services.

Upper-layer protocols supported by AQM

The logical link control (LLC) layer provides services for the upper-layer sub-network dependent
convergence (SNDC), GPRS mobility management (GMM), short message service (SMS), and
tunnelling of messages (TOM) protocols. AQM manages only the LLC PDU queues providing services
for the SNDC protocol.

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4 Engineering Guidelines

4 Engineering Guidelines
AQM is associated with flow control on the Gb interface. AQM and flow control on the Gb interface can
coexist but have an impact on each other. The impact between these two features depends on the
configuration policy of the operator. If AQM-related thresholds are low, flow control on the Gb interface
may be unable to take effect to a certain extent. If the operator considers that flow control on the Gb
interface has a higher priority than AQM, AQM-related thresholds can be set to higher values. In this way,
AQM takes effect only when severe network congestion occurs.

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5 Parameters

5 Parameters
The following describes the parameters related to AQM.
For the meaning of each parameter, see Table 5-1. For the default value, value range, and related MML
commands of each parameter, see Table 5-2.
Table 5-1 Parameter description (1)
Parameter

Description

AQM Switch

AQM switch.

AQM Congestion
Threshold

Congestion threshold of the TBF buffer queue. If the

congestion level in the TBF buffer queue exceeds this
threshold, whether the packets are discarded actively is
determined according to the packet discarding policy.

AQM Maximum
Threshold

Upper length threshold of the TBF buffer queue. If the length of

the TBF buffer queue exceeds this threshold, whether the
packets are discarded is determined according to the packet
discarding policy.

AQM Target
Threshold

Target threshold of the TBF buffer queue.

AQM Packet Discard Lower threshold of the interval for discarding the packets in the
Interval Lower
TBF buffer queue, that is, the minimum value of N (packet drop
Threshold
interval).
AQM Packet Discard Upper threshold of the interval for discarding the packets in the
Interval Upper
TBF buffer queue, that is, the maximum value of N (packet
Threshold
drop interval).

Table 5-2 Parameter description (2)

Parameter

AQM
Switch

Default
Value

CLOSE

AQM
Congestion
Threshold 256
AQM
Maximum
Threshold 1024

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Actual
GUI Value
Value
Range
Range
CLOSE(Clo
se),
OPEN(Ope CLOSE,
OPEN
n)

1~65535

1~65535

1~64,
step:1024

1~64,
step:1024

Unit

MML
Impact
Command

None

SET
BSCPSSO
FTPARA(O
BSC
ptional)

bit

SET
BSCPSSO
FTPARA(O
BSC
ptional)

bit

SET
BSCPSSO
FTPARA(O
BSC
ptional)

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5 Parameters

Parameter

Default
Value

AQM
Target
Threshold 384
AQM
Packet
Discard
Interval
Lower
Threshold 10
AQM
Packet
Discard
Interval
Upper
Threshold 20

5-2

Actual
GUI Value
Value
Range
Range

1~65535

1~65535

1~65535

1~64,
step:1024

1~65535

1~65535

Unit

MML
Impact
Command

bit

SET
BSCPSSO
FTPARA(O
BSC
ptional)

packet

SET
BSCPSSO
FTPARA(O
ptional)
BSC

packet

SET
BSCPSSO
FTPARA(O
ptional)
BSC

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6 Counters

6 Counters
None.

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7 Glossary

7 Glossary
For the acronyms, abbreviations, terms, and definitions, see the Glossary.

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8 Reference Documents

8 Reference Documents
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3GPP TS 44.060 "Radio Link Control/Medium Access Control (RLC/MAC) protocol"

3GPP TS 23.107 "Quality of Service (QoS) concept and architecture"

3GPP TS 48.018 "BSS GPRS Protocol (BSSGP)"

BSC6900 Feature List

BSC6900 Optional Feature Description

BSC6900 GSM Parameter Reference

BSC6900 GSM MML Command Reference

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