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APPLICATION NOTE

Tellabs Smart Backhaul Advancing 3G Networks with 4G Intelligence


The promise of 4G
A 4G wireless network architecture brings simplicity and intelligence to the network. It reduces total cost of ownership and helps to manage the network more efciently. While the promise of a much simpler architecture remains, most networks will continue to operate a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies for the foreseeable future. New technology from Tellabs can bring 4G advantages into a 3G network and signicantly reduce the total cost of ownership of a multigenerational mobile infrastructure. Often in 3G, advanced QoS in the packet core differs from advanced QoS in backhaul in terms of mechanism and intention, 3G mobile backhaul is primarily a transport network made of varying link capacities and not typically subscriber or application aware.

Effect of smartphones and mobile Internet trafc


A small but growing number of highly powerful, Internet-capable smartphones is driving the majority of data trafc over 3G mobile networks. The vast majority of this data trafc comes from accessing services on the public Internet. According to the Morgan Stanley mobile Internet Report, while Apple iPhones share of the total global shipments of mobile phones was only 17% in 2009, the share of Mobile Internet and application usage by iPhone users was 50% and even more so, the share of full web usage from a mobile device was 65%. And the growth in smartphones, apps and mobile web has just begun. This new reality means that the majority of trafc consumers are generating is trafc that is generally treated as best effort. This disparity in customer behavior and network treatment creates a customer experience gap. Changes in link capacity in the mobile backhaul can have profound effects on end users experiences. Current ways of handling choke points in mobile backhaul without knowing the end users application usage are just not enough to ensure happy customers. As 4G applications proliferate and demand more bandwidth, 4G application awareness must be made available in 3G networks.

4Gs advantages over 3G


In a 4G network both WiMAX and LTE subscriber tunnel architectures are much simpler than in 3G. 4G architectures use uniform tunnel semantics, i.e., per subscriber tunnels exist in both Access and Core networks. By contrast, 3G networks have a segmented backhaul in which Packet Switched Networking (PSN) tunnels aggregate many subscriber tunnels over various transport options up to an aggregation point, typically the Radio Network Controller (RNC). A 4G network offers advanced capabilities that enable very granular QoS and bandwidth control. For example, there are one or more Tunnel IDs (TEID) and 4 Trafc Flow Type (TFT) classes per TEID. The eNodeB can map these TFT classes to four corresponding QoS classes on the Radio Access Bearer (RAB).

2G (TDM) R99 (ATM) HSDPA (ATM)

Microwave

ATM

DSL Ethernet Ethernet BSC RNC Leased Lines (TDM) SDH/WDM


ADM

2G/3G

HSDPA HSPA/LTE

Eth

MSC

First Mile/Access Cell Site Aggregation Site

Aggregation Mobile Core

Radio Access Beater

Ethernet

Ethernet

4G
Evolved Base Station (eNodeB or WiMax BTS) GTP or MobileIP Tunnels Access Gateway (S-Gwy or ASN Gwy) GTP or MobileIP Tunnels Subscriber Gateway (P-Gwy or Home Agent)

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

2 TELLABS SMART BACKHAUL ADVANCING 3G NETWORKS WITH 4G INTELLIGENCE

Bringing 4G intelligence to 3G networks


So how do we bring 4G simplicity and intelligence into 3G networks? We need to address ve main challenges: Challenge
Detect and classify mobile Internet trafc while maintaining performance. Apply consistent and end-to-end QoS treatment of trafc ows from backhaul to core.

Description
There is a large group of applications that may warrant better than best effort treatment, but are going untreated and sometimes even dropped in todays mobile infrastructure. Providers need the ability to detect and classify new forms of applications without sacricing data plane performance. Providers need a consistent, end-to-end view of the network. Since the 3G backhaul is segmented and individual subscriber ows are aggregated into PSN tunnels, it is difcult to apply consistent QoS treatment. Moreover, operators may have different strategies for dealing with congestion over a network, which is often a combination of owned and leased lines. They may use adaptive microwave links to ofoad data trafc. Any solution must ensure consistent QoS treatment across a variety of backhaul infrastructure. 3G mobile backhaul can be complex. As cell site links are aggregated into hub nodes and further into aggregation nodes, providers need to know a large number of elements and links in advance to manage trafc intelligently. They need a complete network view and provisioned capacity on each managed link before they can make decisions on how to prioritize trafc. When treating trafc ows in an intelligent, application-aware manner, it is not sufcient to assign priority or QoS to ows based on content. Operators may want to assure fair usage on their network, offer tiered data plans or prioritize based on a subscribers paid services. This subscriber-specic knowledge is also necessary to treat trafc in mobile networks intelligently. Network conditions in mobile backhaul are uid. Congestion can appear rapidly, and recover just as quickly. It is necessary to monitor current network conditions and respond dynamically to live network events.

Understand complexity of 3G networks and provisioned capacity.

Know subscriber prole, services and tiers.

Respond to real-time network conditions.

Standalone DPI gateways fall short


One solution available on the market is a standalone Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) gateway. Providers can deploy a standalone gateway on the Internet side of the mobile core gateway on an interface commonly known in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as the Gi interface. The mobile core gateway, such as a GGSN, performs its traditional function as a PDN selection and subscriber management gateway, while another piece of hardware behind the GGSN has the burden of application detection and classication. The common functions provided by a DPI gateway on Gi interface are: 1. Deep packet inspection and classication of ows based on application or content type. 2. Visibility into trafc types, by application, by volume, time of day and destination. 3. Some DPI gateways can inspect subscriber data lookups such as Radius or Diameter protocol based queries to AAA and HLR servers and associate subscriber information to the DPI information collected. The biggest advantage of the standalone DPI gateway on the Gi interface is that it provides visibility about trafc ows without putting additional burden on an already overloaded GGSN. The biggest weakness of this solution is that it is a singledimensional solution to a multi-dimensional problem. As described previously, providing intelligent bandwidth management and trafc engineering in an end-to-end fashion in 3G networks requires several challenges to be addressed simultaneously. The standalone DPI gateway solution addresses only one piece of the puzzle detecting and classifying various application types. While providers need this ability in todays mobile core, the placement of this function behind the GGSN limits its usefulness. DPI gateways generate content information that cannot be seamlessly used to make intelligent decisions in the backhaul, specically to prioritize trafc and drop precedence during congestion. Often providers must deploy an additional over-arching policy server framework. Then the operator must integrate the two components and test for interoperability. Furthermore, the policy decision framework must be kept up to date with new types of applications that the DPI gateway may detect (and their corresponding treatment). Other weaknesses of the standalone DPI gateway approach are: 1. It cannot co-relate subscriber information without additional snooping of control plane interfaces. Sometimes these interfaces are encrypted and such co-relation may not be possible. 2. Because it is not integrated with the GGSN (or other such mobile core gateway), providers cannot easily launch new subscriber services based on DPI gateway information. To do so always requires interoperability and integration with a separate charging, rating and billing function. 3. Even with the help of a policy server framework, it can only affect ows in the mobile core portion of the network, so it is not an end-to-end solution. 4. It adds to the total cost of ownership of the mobile core, with limited tangible returns on the additional CapEX and OpEx. Thus, while standalone, purpose-built DPI gateways do serve a purpose in the mobile core network, they fall short of bringing true 4G-like simplicity and intelligence to 3G networks.

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

3 TELLABS SMART BACKHAUL ADVANCING 3G NETWORKS WITH 4G INTELLIGENCE

Tellabs solution: a smart backhaul


Tellabs smart backhaul provides a comprehensive solution for endto-end trafc engineering in 2G/3G/4G mobile networks. The result of piecing together all components of Tellabs smart backhaul is a 3G network infrastructure that not only addresses the most pressing concerns of providers, but one that operates similar to a 4G packet architecture with the intelligence and simplicity of 4G. Moreover, Tellabs smart backhaul helps operators evolve to a 4G network while responding to overwhelming bandwidth demand. Mobile operators can start seeing the benets of tomorrows 4G networks by investing in an intelligent 3G network today. Tellabs smart backhaul solves the multi-dimensional challenges facing network operators looking to simplify and make their 3G networks smarter. I. Intelligent classication without losing performance The Tellabs SmartCore 9100 Series is a packet core gateway platform built for 4G. Each Intelligent Packet Processor (IPP) card in the Tellabs SmartCore platform has hardware-assisted intelligent DPI functionality. The Tellabs SmartCore platform DPI detects and classies IP ows with an effective improvement of 10:1 in DPI and trafc management resource utilization. It powers gateways that can perform ow classication and advanced QoS with very little effect on data throughput. This next-generation gateway platform combines a high-performance application classication with policy decision within a single unit. When looking at the return on investment, it is equivalent to the combined ROI of a current generation mobile gateway, a standalone DPI gateway and a local policy server.
Intelligent DPI

II. IuPS-to-IuB ow mapping Providers can easily map Tellabs SmartCore platform markers on IP packet ows (IuPS) in the mobile core to per subscriber bearer ows (IuB) in the mobile backhaul. Because the markings are standardsbased IP DiffServ markings, the RNC which performs this correlation honors the markings and passes them on to the mobile user plane.
Iur User Plane Iub User Plane Transport Network Control Plane Iub Control Plane IUR FP IUB FP UDP TBD IP DATA LINK NBAP SCTP RTP/RTCP UDP IP DATA LINK Iur Control Plane

RNSAP SCCP M3UA SCTP

IUB
Iu User Plane Uu User Plane Uu Control Plane

IUR
Iu Control Plane

IU UP RTP/ RTCP GTPU

RANAP SCCP M3UA SCTP IP DATA LINK

PDCP

BMC RLC MAC LAYER 1

RRC

UDP

UU

RNC Application

IU-CS IU-PS

Per Subscriber Application Flows

Mobile Internet Aggregate Flow

Whenever possible, the highest layer marking (Layer 3: IP DiffServ) should be congured to allow maximum transparency at the RNC. This may be done in the SmartCore platform conguration. The Iu protocol user plane (used in the mobile core side of the RNC), uses GTP-U as the encapsulation protocol while the Iub user plane (used in the access side of the RNC) uses plain UDP to transport IP ows. GTP is UDP based. The RNC application managing IP transport within the RNC copies GTP UDP packets arriving on UDP ports of IuPS interface to UDP packets on corresponding UDP ports of the IuB interface. The IP DiffServ markings made on the IuPS (core) network thus remain intact when copied over into the IuB (backhaul) network. This IuPS-to-IuB ow mapping is a key piece in solving the end-toend consistent QoS puzzle. The Tellabs 8600 system and Tellabs 8800 MSR series can learn these markings and apply Per Hop Behavior (PHB) in the backhaul as described below. III. Backhaul QoS engine Once ow classiers and the corresponding treatment have been marked (or signaled out-of-band), backhaul network routers can then police, queue and shape trafc ows according to the classication. Providers can control PHB for Best Effort (BE) forwarding, Expedited Forwarding (EF), Assured Forwarding (AF) and various sub-classes within AF. Operators can control the PHB using industry-standard QoS techniques such as: ingress and egress policers (e.g., single or dual Leaky Bucket, two-rate Three Color Marker, etc.), queuing and scheduling techniques (e.g., Strict, WFQ), and packet discard mechanisms (e.g., Tail drop, WRED, RED). Both the Tellabs 8600 system and Tellabs 8800 MSR series offer these advanced QoS mechanisms, thus forming a very efcient QoS engine.

SC 9100
GGSN

Once it detects an application type (usually the rst few packets on each ow), providers can assign trafc management actions at line rate to upstream and downstream ows. An administrator can easily dene rules for identifying application types, group them into classes of service and assign trafc management and QoS actions by using a simple scripting language called Wichorus Content Language (WCL). WCL enables administrators to easily program the Tellabs SmartCore platform and select appropriate QoS markings (e.g., MPLS EXP, IP DiffServ or Ethernet P-bits). For upstream ows, the Tellabs SmartCore platform can signal the classiers and their corresponding treatment to backhaul routers, such as the Tellabs 8600 Managed Edge System and Tellabs 8800 Multiservice Router (MSR) series through an out-of-band mechanism.

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

4 TELLABS SMART BACKHAUL ADVANCING 3G NETWORKS WITH 4G INTELLIGENCE

SDH GSM 2G DSL xWDM Microwave


ADM

IP/MPLS RNC/BSC/MSC ATM

3G 4G

8600

Ethernet

8600/8800

Cell Site
Classification Marker Control, pbit & EXP 7, CS7 Control, pbit & EXP 6, CS7 VBRnrt (CLPO), FR (DEO), pbit & EXP 5 & 4, AF4 1842 UBR (CLPO), pbit & EXP 8, BE QoS Class Control Real Time Premium Out of control Best Effort Queuing Tail Drop Drop 0 Q0 Max 34ms Tail Drop Drop 0 Q1 Max 2.5ms WRED (Max 5ms) Drop 0 Drop 1 Q2 Max 34ms RED Drop 0 Q3 Max 50ms

Pseudowire LSPs
Scheduling Strict
Committed Information Rate (CIR)

Switching Office
Policing Shaping

Strict

90

Excess rate/burst
Committed Information Rate (CIR)

WFQ 95

Excess 90 rate/burst WFQ 5

An example of the powerful effect of this consistent and end-toend QoS ability is shown below. In a mobile network with Adaptive Microwave backhaul infrastructure owned by the operator, this solution works even in frequently changing microwave link conditions. The Tellabs 8600 system of routers maps the original Diff-Serv Code Point (DSCP) markings from the Tellabs SmartCore platform to Ethernet layer P-bits or Class-of-Service (CoS) markings. The Ethernet-based microwave backhaul device can transparently make drop decisions on packets with low-priority ows as determined by the Tellabs SmartCore platform. In mobile networks where leased infrastructure is in place, Ethernet may not be the only Layer-2 protocol available. TDM, ATM, SDH and xWDM links are often present in the leased network. Both the Tellabs 8600 system and Tellabs 8800 MSR series of routers can map original DSCP markings to MPLS EXP bits. MPLS-capable routers and switches in the leased infrastructure can use the MPLS EXP markings to guide them in prioritizing trafc over various Layer 2 transports. Therefore, Tellabs smart backhaul offers a cascading effect of transferring application intelligence further and deeper into mobile backhaul segments achieving consistent and end-to-end QoS from cell site to core.

IV. Trafc Engineering Database (TED) Tellabs solutions often help providers engineer their mobile networks top-down, with an end-to-end network view designed in the Tellabs 8000 Intelligent Network Management Systems Trafc Engineering Database. The trafc engineering database serves as a repository of information such as network conguration, router conguration, fault logs, performance history and much more. For example, the network conguration table in the Tellabs 8000 Intelligent Manager database contains addressing information to look up any node in the mobile backhaul network, such as area, region, location, node, sub-rack, unit, port and even VLAN. The router conguration table contains information for the congured capacity and throughput of interface links and tunnels. The performance history table contains various performance metrics and counters collected at different frequency; some counters are collected every 15 minutes while others are collected daily. This comprehensive and up-to-date network view of Tellabs smart backhaul elements enables more informed decisions about perapplication treatment in the packet core. For example, an administrator can access the Tellabs 8000 Intelligent Manager database to learn about congured link capacities in frequently congested areas of the network before making the decision to assign specic trafc classes to application types in the Tellabs SmartCore platform. In real time, the Tellabs SmartCore platform itself can learn about changing network conditions and re-mark the application ows accordingly.

8600 maps markings to Ethernet P-bits Cell Site


8605 256 QAM 64 QAM 8605 8630 16 QAM QPSK 8630

BSC/ RNC

Original DSCP Marking from SmartCore

Cell Site

Cell Site
8605

Hub Site

Aggregation Site

Adaptive Microwave

See tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions

5 TELLABS SMART BACKHAUL ADVANCING 3G NETWORKS WITH 4G INTELLIGENCE

V. Putting it all together With integrated DPI technology and the ability to classify and mark trafc ows based on application type, the Tellabs SmartCore platform serves as an impressive mobile QoS anchor. Combined with the Tellabs 8000 Intelligent Manager trafc engineering database, and the Tellabs mobile solution serving as the Backhaul QoS engine, Tellabs smart backhaul can achieve consistent and end-to-end QoS that adapts to changing network conditions and keeps pace with application and smartphone proliferation.
8000 DB Network Config Router Config Faults Tellabs 8000 iNMS Database Server Performance History Other tables

and the advanced QoS support in all the components of the solution allows Tellabs smart backhaul to bring 4G intelligence to todays 3G networks. In doing so, Tellabs smart backhaul paves the way towards an orderly 4G evolution while addressing present day challenges. Smarter networks are the ultimate answer to smartphone-generated demand.

Acknowledgements References
n

3GPP TS 23.207 V5.8.0, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS); End-to End QoS Concept and Architecture, December 2000 3GPP TS 23.107 V5.5.0, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS); QoS Concept and Architecture, March 2001 3GPP TR 25.933 V5.4.0, IP transport in UTRAN, January 2004 F. Le Faucheur, et al, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Support of Differentiated Services. RFC 3270, May 2002 Quality of Service in the Wireless Backhaul, Tellabs White Paper Quality of Service in the Tellabs 8600 Managed Edge System, Tellabs White Paper Tellabs 8800 MSR Quality of Service: Architecture and Services, Tellabs Technical Note RNC3810 Ericssons rst WCDMA radio network controller, Ericsson, 2002 Mobile Internet Report Morgan Stanley, December 2009

n n

Summary
The reality of multi-generational mobile infrastructure means that the advantages of 4G networks cannot be realized without making existing backhaul technology smarter. Bringing 4G network intelligence into 3G networks requires a comprehensive approach, addressing both mobile core and mobile backhaul network elements. The knowledge about network topology, provisioned link capacity and performance history of network elements in backhaul, the unique content inspection and application classication ability,

n n

Node B Rel 5/6 Node B Rel 4 GSM IP BTS GSM BTS LMU TDMA BTS

10/100 or ML-PPP n x T1 IMA/T3 RNC 10/100 n x T1 T1/V.35 T1 SGSN

AAA HLR

8600
QoS Engine

8600/8800

PCRF

SC 9100
GGSN QoS Anchor Billing/ Charging

Cell Site

Switching Office

Mobile Core

North America Tellabs One Tellabs Center 1415 West Diehl Road Naperville, IL 60563 U.S.A. +1 630 798 8800 Fax: +1 630 798 2000

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The following trademarks and service marks are owned by Tellabs Operations, Inc., or its afliates in the United States and/or in other countries: TELLABS, TELLABS and T symbol, and T symbol. Statements herein may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events, products, features, technology and resulting commercial or technological benets and advantages. These statements are for discussion purposes only, are subject to change and are not to be construed as instructions, product specications, guarantees or warranties. Actual results may differ materially. 2010 Tellabs. All rights reserved. 74.2318E Rev. A 11/10

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