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cn

ANALYSIS OF RLC TRANSMISSION

WINDOW-SIZE IN TD-SCDMA
Zhang JuanLi Pingan
Institute of Information Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology
E-mailzhangjuan58@sohu.com

Abstract
Radio link control (RLC) is the major radio protocol of universal mobile telecommunication system
(UMTS). It is responsible for error recovery and flow control. With many different configurations of
RLC parameters, such as transmission window-size, maxDAT and periodic poll timer, the RLC
performance will be impacted significantly. Simulations should be conducted to obtain the ideal
parameters of RLC to optimize the RLC performance. In this paper, effects of transmission
window-size on the performance of RLC are investigated. For different bandwidths, 64kps, 128kps,
256kps and 384kps in the time division-synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA)
system, we examine the performance of RLC in terms of service data unit (SDU) delay, SDU discard
ratio and averaged throughput. Based on the simulation results, threshold values of the transmission
window-size at different bandwidths are analyzed.
Keywords: Radio link control; Transmission window; thresold

1 Introduction
One of the important objectives of universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) [1] is to offer
an internet connection to a mobile user. Many internet applications such as file transfer protocol
(FTP), web browsing and e-mail require end-to-end reliable data transmission. Nowadays, these
packet data services are provided via the transmission control protocol (TCP). TCP is traditionally
used in wired network. Comparing to the wired network, the physical medium is unreliable in the
wireless network. Due to the high bit error rate, TCP does not perform efficiently in wireless links.
Radio link control (RLC) is a crucial protocol in UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) [2].
It is responsible for minimizing the error perceived by the upper layer, therefore ensuring TCP can
work effectively.
With many different mechanisms, RLC is designed to decrease data discard and data delay. In this
paper, we pay more attention to the transmission window-size [3]. This parameter decides how many
protocol data units (PDUs) can be sent at one time. Simulations are carried out with different traffic
bandwidths for analyzing the impacts of bandwidth on RLC performance.

2 Simulation model
2.1

N e t wo r k m o d e l

Let us consider a network of single frequency with omni-direction single carrier. It is assumed that all
the user equipments (UEs) are uniformly distributed within 37 cells. We are just interested in the 19
cells close to the center of the model. The remaining cells are treated as interfering cells. The system
block ratio is 2%. All the UEs move at the rate of 3km/h.

2.2 Transmission model

The urban path loss model of cost231_hata is chosen to simulate the transmission environment. The
path loss in decibel can be written as

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L(dB) = 46.3+33.9log(f ) 13.82log(Hb ) a(Hm )

+[44.9 6.55log(Hb )]log(d) +Cm

(1)

Where

a(Hm) =[1.1log(f )0.7]Hm [1.56log(f )0.8],

Hb and Hm represent the height of antenna in base station (BS) side and UE side, respectively.
Hb=30m and Hm=1.5m are used in the simulations. In (1), Cm is the environment coefficient. For a
typical city environment,

Cm = 0

is used.

2.3 Traffic model

Three traffic sources corresponding to voice, service flow and data are generated. Data traffic is
differentiated to FTP and the world wide-web (WWW). We focus on the FTP service for the reason
that it can keep a continuous and stable paging. The data traffic is transported over TCP to the
cellular network, so the data packets are shaped by the TCP window flow control [4]. With this
configuration, the TCP behavior over the wireless link is reflected.

2.4 RLC model

The architecture of RLC is described in detail in 3GPP25.322. In our study, all the data packets are
transmitted in acknowledge mode (AM). The SDU discard operation mode is named No_discard
after MaxDAT number of transmissions. If the number of times a PDU is scheduled for transmission
reaches MaxDAT, the sender shall initiate the RLC reset procedure. MaxDAT represents the upper
limit of a PDU retransmission. MaxRST is the maximum number of reset. In this paper, MaxDAT=15
and MaxRST= 4.
The polling function will not be triggered in data services in this simulation. Timer_Status_Periodic
(TSP) is configured to send back status PDUs periodically. The TSP is 100ms for the bandwidth of
384kps. In other cases, the value of TSP is 300ms.

3 Simulation parameters
Table 1: The simulation parameters

Window
-size
Bandwidth
64kps
128kps
256kps
384kps

Value
1

Value
2

Value
3

Value
4

32
64
128
256

64
128
256
512

128
256
512
1024

256
512
1024
2047

Four typical bandwidths, 64kps, 128kps, 256kps and 384kps, in the time division- synchronous code
division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) system are considered. For each bandwidth, four different
transmission window-sizes are examined. The simulation parameters are shown in Table1. SDU
discard, SDU delay and throughput are considered as simulation targets to reflect the influence of
transmission window-size on the RLC performance. We aim at finding out appropriate window-size.
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With the appropriate configuration, SDU discard and SDU delay will be decreased, and the
throughput will be increased. Hence, the RLC performance will be optimized.

4 Results and discussion

We collect data at both UE side and radio network controller (RNC) side for statistics when the
bandwidth is 64kps and 128kps, respectively. The 256kps and 384kps are configured asymmetrically.
At these two bandwidths, the uplink is just used to transmit signaling information. Therefore, the
uplink bandwidth is relatively small. We focus on the downlink performance at 256kps and 384kps.
For SDU discard, we are interested in the RNC side. For SDU delay and average throughput, we pay
more attention to the UE side.

4.1 SDU discard

Figure 1 to Figure 4 present the effects of transmission window-size on SDU discard at four
bandwidths respectively. Considering the number of activation UEs is different, the total transmission
number of SDU is also different. Therefore, we define a normalized SDU discard at each bandwidth.
It is the ratio of discarded SDU number to the total transmitted SDU number. When the transmission
window-size is set to the first value, SDUs are discharged terribly. That is because compared to the
large bandwidth, too small window will result in SDU overflow. If the transmitting buffer is full,
outside SDU of the buffer will be discarded. As the window-size increases, the losses are decreased.
The last three ratios are very similar. This means that the second value is the key value for
investigating the SDU discard.

SDU discard
Ue_rlc_mac

40

Ratio(%)

Ratio (%)

50

Rnc_rlc_mac

30
20
10
0
32

Rnc_rlc_mac

128
256
512
Transmission window_size

Figure 2: SDU discard ratio at 128kps

SDU discard

SDU discard

100
Rnc_rlc_mac

Ratio(%)

Ratio(%)

Ue_rlc_mac

64

64
128
256
Transmission winow_size

Figure 1: SDU discard ratio at 64kps

80

SDU discard

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

60
40

Rnc_rlc_mac

1.5
1
0.5

20
0

256

128
256
512
1024
Transmission window_size
Figure 3: SDU discard ratio at 256kps

512
1024
2047
Transmission window_size

Figure 4: SDU discard ratio at 384kps

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4.2 SDU delay

SDU delay

Ue_rlc_mac
Rnc_rlc_mac

SDU delay(s)

SDU delay(s)

10

6
4
2
0
32

SDU delay

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Ue_rlc_mac

Rnc_rlc_mac

64

64
128
256
Transmission window-size

Figure 5: SDU delay at 64kps

128
256
Transmission window-size

Figure 6: SDU delay at 128kps

SDU delay
0.8

Ue_rlc_mac

SDU delay(s)

SDU delay(s)

SDU delay
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

512

0.6
0.4
Ue_rlc_mac

0.2
0
256

128
256
512
1024
Transmission window_size

512

1024

2047

Transmission window_size

Figure 7: SDU delay at 256kps

Figure 8: SDU delay at 384kbps

Figure 5 to the Figure 8 are curves of SDU delay. The trend of first three figures is similar. Obviously,
the first window-size is too small and the narrow window limits SDUs to transmit immediately. Thus,
SDUs are delayed seriously. When the window-size has arrived at the second value, this phenomenon
is improved a little. But this window-size still cannot deal with the retransmissions flexibly. When
the size is up to the third value, the size of window is large enough to treat with retransmissions and
status PDUs. So the latency is very short. The last delay value is almost the same as the third one.
However, 384kps is particular. Figure 8 shows that when the window-size sets to the second value the
latency is the shortest. So for the 384kps, the value of 512 is the smallest window-size.

4.3 Averaged throughput

In Figure 9 to Figure 12, the averaged throughputs for various bandwidths are presented. This
statistics just include the successfully reassembled SDUs for the first transmission. All the
retransmission packets and signaling packets are excluded in averaged throughput. For this reason,
the averaged throughput will not reach the corresponding bandwidths. The emphasis is the trend of
curves. Firstly, the throughput is limited by the narrow window. The high speed bandwidth can not be
used efficiently. And then, as the window-size increased, the restriction is lightened. After the
window-size is large enough, all the data can be transmitted rapidly from the transmission window.
But the physical channel capacity is a fix value. The throughput will be baffled by the limited
physical medium. So after a certain value, the increasing window-size will have no effect on the
throughput.

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Averaged throughput

Averaged throughput

Averaged throughput

Averaged throughput
60000
50000
40000

Ue_rlc_mac
Rnc_rlc_mac

30000
20000
10000
0

120000
100000
80000
60000
40000

Rnc_rlc_mac

20000
0
64
128
256
512
Transmission window_size

32
64
128
256
Transmission window_size
Figure 9: Averaged throughput at 64kps

Figure 10: Averaged throughput at 128kps

Averaged throughput

Averaged throughput

250000

Averaged throughput

Averaged throughput

Ue_rlc_mac

200000
150000
Ue_rlc_mac

100000
50000
0

350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0

128
256
512
1024
Transmission window_size

Ue_rlc_mac

256
512
1024
2047
Transmission window_size

Figure 11: Averaged throughput at 256kp

Figure 12: Averaged throughput at 384kps

5 Conclusions
The size of transmission window plays an important role under the RLC layer. The effects of the
window-size on 64kps, 128kps, 256kps and 384kps are analyzed in detail. The results show that a
large RLC window-size will generally increase throughput, and reduce RLC SDU delay and discard.
When window-size is small, RLC is not able to utilize the bandwidth resources sufficiently. SDU
delay and discard will also suffer from this low utilization. After the window-size surpasses a
threshold, this restriction posed by window-size no longer exists. From the simulation results, the
thresholds for the four different bandwidths are chosen to be as follows.

References
[1] 3rd Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, UTRAN Overall
Description, Technical Specification TS 25.401 v4.6.0, 2002-12.
[2] 3rd Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Radio Interface
Protocol Architecture, Technical Specification TS 25.301 v6.0, 2003-12.
[3] 3rd Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Radio Link
Control (RLC) Protocol Specification, Technical Specification TS 25.322 v4.12.0, 2004-06.
[4] Robert Bestak, Philippe Godlewski and Philippe Martins, RLC Buffer Occupancy When Using a TCP
Connection Over UMTS, in Proceedings of 13th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and
Mobile Radio Communications PIMRC 2002, Lisbon, Portugal, September 2002, volume 3, pp. 161-165.

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