3G Media Gateway

Software for GSM

Transcoder

2006 NOKIA

Author:

Mikko Mkinen

Supervisor:

Professor Raimo Kantola

Instructor:

Lic.Sc. (Tech) Jyri Suvanen

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

Contents of the presentation

Objectives of the thesis

Speech transcoding in mobile networks

Role of TRAU (Transcoder and Rate Adaptation Unit) and MGW

(Media Gateway) in GSM and 3G networks

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Hardware and Software (HW/SW)

Comparing TRAU and MGW software

Applying MGW software for TRAU environment

Performance of the new software

Conclusions

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

Objectives of the thesis

Problem:
Two separate network elements (TRAU and MGW) are handling
basically the same task i.e. transcoding speech. However, their
development has been relatively independent in Nokia up to
this date.

Methods:
Study the roles of the TRAU and the MGW unit in current and
future network architectures
Comparison of the MGW and the TRAU software
Apply the MGW software in the TRAU hardware environment
and implement needed software parts
Feasibility & performance study of the new software

Thesis was carried out in Nokia Networks Signal Processing

System unit

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

Speech transcoding in mobile

networks
Radio frequencies are scarce and expensive resource
Speech encoding saves radio channels remarkably
Traditional PCM (64kbit/s) versus HR (5.6kbit/s), FR (13kbit/s),
EFR(12.2kbit/s) and AMR-NR(4.75-12.2kbit/s)

Exploitation of the statistical characteristics of the human speech

Short term correlation linear prediction
Long term correlation fundamental period of voiced sounds

Hybrid coders combination of waveform coders and vocoders

Compatible interconnections towards other wireless and wireline

networks usually implemented with PCM

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

Role of TRAU and MGW (1/3)

MS Mobile Station
BTS Base Transceiver Station
BSC Base Station Controller
TRAU Transcoding and Rate
Adaptation Unit
MSC Mobile Switching Station
GMSC Gateway MSC
VLR Visitor Location Register
HLR Home Location Register
AuC Authentication Centre
EIR Equipment Identity Register
PSTN Public Switched Telephone
Network
PLMN Public Land Mobile
Network

TRAU is a part of the GSM access network

Handling FR/HR/EFR/AMR-NB to PCM conversion

Most of its new markets in developing countries (plus capacity updates in developed
countries)

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

Role of TRAU and MGW (2/3)

RAN Radio Access Network
GERAN GSM/EDGE RAN
UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial RAN
CS Circuit Switched
PS Packet Switched
RNC Radio Network Controller
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support
Node
MGW Media Gateway

MGW is a part of the 3G core network (Release4)

MGW handles only user plane traffic

Placed behind TRAU if co-operated with the GSM/EDGE access network

Handling data type conversion (IP/ATM/PCM) in addition to the media

format conversion

Under active product development (new features + capacity updates)

2006 NOKIA

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1.12.2006

Role of TRAU and MGW (3/3)

Problem: Duplicate transcoders in 3G core/ GSM access network

situation
Expensive for the operator and multiple lossy transcodings decrease
the speech quality

Solution 1: Avoid tandem transcoding with end-to-end codec negotiation

Tandem Free Operation (TFO) pack encoded bits inside 64kbit/s
PCM stream, no bandwidth savings
Transcoder Free Operation (TrFO) send encoded bits directly over
an IP/ATM network, saves also bandwidth compared to 64kbit/s PCM
Does not solve the problem of duplicate hardware units

Solution 2: Remove separate TRAU-unit, implement Ater-interface in

MGW
Cost efficient
Dynamic allocation of 2G/3G transcoding capabilities
Unfortunately Ater-interface is proprietary and thus this solution
works only in limited situations (access and core network from the
same manufacturer)

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

DSP HW/SW (1/2)

Why to use specialized DSP hardware with processor specific

Assembly code when commercial off-the shelf processors have
higher clock rates, wider range of third party
compilers/development tools/software/etc. and support for higher
(more abstracted) programming languages (C/C++/Java..) that are
easily ported for new hardware environments?

DSP processors are superior in certain application fields (price

competitive and computationally demanding functions) due to
their special characteristics
Separate multiply-accumulate unit (e.g. for vector products)
Multiple memory fetches within single clock cycle
Fixed point arithmetic
Special instruction sets
Minimal and power consumption effective design
Skilled Assembly programmer can beat modern C-compilers
anytime in small, algorithm intensive tasks
Tenfold margin is not extraordinary

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

DSP HW/SW (2/2)

However, modern transcoding units have new requirements for DSP

SW
Size of the software has explode
Dynamic functionality, lots of control oriented tasks
Shorter time-to-market cycles
Rapid hardware updates to increase capacity

It is not possible to design each new hardware from scratch and

reprogram the whole software for the new hardware
Use of common and modular hardware units
Separation of the hardware dependent software from others
Separation of the control oriented and the algorithm intensive
pieces of software
Use of higher languages (mostly C) whenever its possible
Use of Assembly only when really needed!

2006 NOKIA

mikko.o.makinen@nokia.com

1.12.2006

TRAU and MGW software comparison

The development of these units have been relatively independent due

to their distinct functions and different historical background
However, today the functionality set of TRAU is almost an inclusive
subset of the corresponding MGW functionality set. Moreover, the MGW
software offers several additional services such as the wideband AMR
codec.

The whole TRAU software was originally written in Assembly although in

later releases some C-code was added -> simple and effective but
nowadays unmanageable, error prone and stretched to its limits
Not too optimized anymore, as the current version is only translated
version of the previous release (optimized for a different processor)

The MGW software has a more modern layered architecture (operating

system, drivers, platform, application) making it flexible, modular and
portable
Even more detailed separation in application part, making it possible
to for example outsource the development of standard speech
codecs

2006 NOKIA

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1.12.2006

Applying MGW software for TRAU

environment (1/2)

Two similar products but both have distinct markets and hardware
environments, although both units use the same DSP currently
(Texas Instruments TNETV3010)

However, Nokia could enhance its software development and

maintenance processes by reusing the more modern MGW software
in TRAU unit. This is possible, as also the Assembly code is portable
between units due to the same processors.

Minimum target: same functionality and similar capacity

Possible problems in external interfaces:

MGW SW has no support for direct serial port traffic that TRAU
uses for all user traffic
Operation & Maintenance (O&M) interface technically very
different
MGWs dynamic resource control vs. TRAUs static speech coding
channels

2006 NOKIA

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Applying MGW software for TRAU

environment (2/2)

Only few new modules

2006 NOKIA

However, lots of little

changes and adjusting ->
fiddly and time consuming
project

Only basic call through

functionality, O&M
interface ignored at this
stage

Simplified picture of the

new Software

12

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1.12.2006

Performance of the new Software

2006 NOKIA

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Clear performance
advantage compared
to the old TRAU SW

Greatest difference in
actual speech codecs
(translated versus
native code)

Possibility to even
double the capacity!

1.12.2006

Conclusions

Separate GSM transcoder unit have markets for years, although

larger investments should be reconsidered thoroughly

The MGW software has clear performance advantage -> more

handled channels per unit or less needed DSP hardware capacity

Only minor changes needed for the new software -> possible to
develop in parallel with the main MGW software -> only one
software to maintain

More flexible software for new features or other updates. AMR-WB

is a possible newcomer for GSM networks in the future.

Final product decisions not made yet, but used approach seems
to be very promising

Further study:
Implementation of the O&M interface if green light shown
Future of the AMR-WB codec (in GSM networks)

2006 NOKIA

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 Thank

You!

Questions/Comment

s?

2006 NOKIA

15

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1.12.2006