EUGAP Meeting No.

31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 1

Signalling Evolution Packet Core
Paul Bramich
Senior Solution Architect, Ericsson
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 2
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Important setup!
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 3
Lets test the system now!

How many member countries are present in
our Core Working group EUGAP#31?
A. 12
B. 13
C. 14
D. 17
E. 19





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EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 4
What is the main contributing factor to
signalling load increases for Packet Core?
A. Rise of smartphones
B. Popularity of different Apps
C. New usage patterns
D. Changed device behavior
E. LTE topology RAN direct to core





Main contributing
factors
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EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 5
Rise of Smartphones & tablets

Popularity & variety of apps

New usage pattern & device behavior

In LTE, direct exposure of Core to eNodeBs

Main contributing
factors
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 6
The e2e smartphone
challenge
overview
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 7
The e2e smartphone challenge
overview
Data traffic
R
A
N

c
o
n
t
r
o
l

p
l
a
n
e

l
o
a
d


Feature
phones
PCs
Data: IP packets to/from apps, services, Internet
Signaling: Mobile-specific messages for managing mobility
and resources for Data traffic
Significant signaling
x
Many smartphones
=
Impact on some networks
Signalling load increasingly important with smartphones
Smart
Phones
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 8
Why EPC signalling
concerns?


Rapid uptake of popular LTE
Smartphones
...which have a chatty traffic behaviour just
as for 3G
Frequent idle-to-active mode
transactions
Reduced phone battery consumption
Increased cell capacity
Controlled by the LTE RAN idle timer
LTE architecture without central
controller
Inter-base station mobility events visible in
EPC





EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 9
0
10
20
30
40
Op1 Op2 Op3 Op4
10s 20s 61s 61s
HO
SR
Live OPERATOR EXAMPLES
No of Service requests/BH/SAU
The lower the idle timer value, the
higher the signalling load on EPC

EPC network dimensioning need to
consider that this impact is mainly
controlled by RAN

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
4s 10s 10s 20s 20s 61s 61s
RAN idle
timer
SR/SAU/B
0
30
0 60 120
SR
HO
Simulated impact of
Idle Timer
s
1/BH/SAU
Signaling rates in 4 LTE
networks with different Idle
Timer settings
1/BH/SA
RAN idle
timer
SR/SAU/Bhr
Signaling rates in 4 LTE
networks with different Idle
Timer settings
1/BH/SAU
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 10
E2e network
impacts
1
0
MME
SGW
HSS
HLR/
AuC
eNB UE
Paging increases
over radio
interface
RRC signalling
increases over
radio interface
Service Request
signalling request
increases to re-
establish the RAB
Re-Authentication signalling
request increases due to
Selective Authentication on
every n
th
UE procedure
PGW
ENIQ
Event Based Monitoring Data Transaction increase
Send Authentication
Information
Transaction increase
Paging Request increase to re-
establish RAB for downlink
traffic being buffered more
often due to being in idle state
quicker
Modify Bearer Message increase to notify SGW
and PGW of RAB state change from
CONNECTED to IDLE and IDLE to CONNECTED
Downlink Data Notification increase
from PGW to SGW and then to MME to
trigger paging to UE for re-establish
RAB due to being in idle state quicker
S1-U
S5-C
S5-U
Gr
RAN Utilisation
Savings due to less
connected states
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 11
Operator 1 Operator
2
Operator 3

LTE world
range
Signaling UE / RAN =>
Frequency per SAU per
BH
3G LTE
only
After LTE
launch
Before
LTE
launch
LTE
connected
subs
Customer
under
study
(current)
MME GGSN
2)
SGW
2)

Attach 0.9 0.1 3.7 0.1 - 7 0.2 -
Detach 0.04 0.1 0.03 0.1 0.1
()

PDP / Bearer Activation 0.2 3 0.75-
0.80
1 0.2 - 5 0.3
Service Request 4.4 7.2 7 3.74 7.7 (100%) 3 60 2-4
()

S1 / Iu Release 12 13.9 17 12 20 (100%) 3 60 17-32 -
Paging 2.7 6.6 10 1.5 8.4 (500%) 1 - 20 2 -
3)

Intra-SGSN-MME
RAU/TAU
1)

1.8 3.9 0.5-0.8 .5-.8 0.2 5 0.9 - -
4)
Intra-RAT HO
1)
(X2 /
SRNS...)
3.2 0.1 2.6 1 - 25 -
Inter-SGSN-MME
RAU/TAU with W=>L
IRAT
1 6.6 - - 0.5 - 8 0.02
Signaling impact assumptions:
1) Intra-RAT, Intra-SGSN-MME
2) SGW: LTE, S11. GGSN: WCDMA, Gn, no 3GDT
3) Mainly DL data notifications before paging
4) No SGW relocation
potential Signaling impact
Ultimately, traffic profile will depend on
device mix, user behavior, apps & RAN
design etc
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 12
35sec Inactivity timer
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0:00:00 0:00:09 0:00:17 0:00:26 0:00:35 0:00:43 0:00:52 0:01:00 0:01:09 0:01:18
Repeat mo-Data request from same M-TMSI (VXE8 MME - National LTE RAN)
- ZOOMED
Count
Count of Top 10
All repeat activities
handled in same
connected state with
35 sec timer setting
Larger sample
size than next
slide
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 13
10sec Inactivity timer
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
0:00:00 0:00:09 0:00:17 0:00:26 0:00:35 0:00:43 0:00:52 0:01:00 0:01:09 0:01:18
Normalised Count of Time between repeated Service Request for MoData
from same M-TMSI - National (VXE8 MME)
All Subscribers
Top 10 Subscribers per
Repeat Activity Delta Time
Point
Large spikes also
seen at 15 and 20
secs.
Large spikes
also seen at
15 and 20
secs.
This could be due
to device issues
or configuration
and is limited to
only a handful of
individual UEs
At 11 secs there is a
considerable request to
reactivate the RAB given it
has just gone idle.
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 14
Network impacts of
RAN timer changes


MME (S1 and S11 interfaces)
~100% increase in Service Request Procedures
~30% increase in LTE paging over S1 interface
~30% increase in Modify Bearer Requests over S11
interface
SGW/PGW (S11 & S5 interface)
~30% increase in Modify Bearer Requests received over
S11 interface and S5 (internal/external) to PGW
~30% increase in Downlink Data Notification sent to SGW
over S5 (internal/external) and S11 interface to MME.
~Session Controller board CPU impacts.
HSS (S6a & HLR/AUC i/f for Auth)
~10% increase in S6a Authentication Procedures.
~10% increase in MAP Send Authentication Procedures
between the HSS and HLR
RAN
Increased signalling over the air interface due to paging
and RAB establishment request increases.
*Better capacity utilisation of radio interface (e.g. PRBs,
SR etc.) due to less time spent in connected state.




EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 15
Why reduce LTE RAN Idle timer?

A. Because Apple said to

B. To save RAN bearers

C. To improve battery life

D. So Ericsson can sell more





So why do it????
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EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 16
So why do it???

Battery Life



EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 17
Feature roadmap overview
Feature 3GPP? GSM WCDMA LTE
Smart and Adaptive Paging No 2013A 2013B 2010B
Selective SR Handling No - 2011A -
UE Signalling Control No 2011A 2011A 2011A
Dynamic TAI List Control Yes - - 2012A
Attach Throttling ? - - 2013A
Smart and Adaptive Paging feature reduces signaling load by up to
90%
Selective Service Request Handling features enable the SGSN-MME
to selectively handle which radio access bearers (RABs) to re-
establish
elimination of unnecessary setup of multiRABs within the radio
network up to 50% makes room for more users and directly
impacts the needed investment
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 18
Smart Adaptive Paging
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 19
Selective Service
Request Handling
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 20
UE Signalling Control
GSM, WCDMA & LTE applicable!
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 21
Smartphone signalling
demo
Please check with your local Ericsson representative to
secure the Smartphone signalling demo
EUGAP Meeting No. 31: Jakarta; November 25 - 27, 2013; 22