A P P L I C A T I O N

N O T E

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport

An IP/MPLS Solution

Abstract
As mobile broadband deployment accelerates, traffic diversity and data volumes are growing more
rapidly than anticipated. There has been a clear exponential shift in the growth curve, driven by
new consumer devices, applications and mobile-friendly content along with tremendous progress in
radio transmission technology. However, the average revenue per user (ARPU) is not keeping pace.
To address this, operators must lower costs in the radio access network (RAN). They must leverage
the flattened cost curves of scalable media such as packet microwave and Ethernet. Operators must
do all this without relinquishing the resiliency, determinism and operational control that they have
established which assists them in attracting and retaining their subscriber base.
The Alcatel-Lucent Mobile Evolution Transport Architecture (META) includes a comprehensive
set of products and solutions certified for use in GSM/UMTS, CDMA and WiMax mobile backhaul
transport applications. This document examines the requirements and values driving the business
case for a powerful, flexible aggregation capability over an IP/MPLS networking infrastructure for
a modernized RAN architecture. The business case goal is to converge legacy access types, leverage
the lower cost points of highly scalable transport such as Carrier (Metro) Ethernet and to prepare
a powerful, agile infrastructure for the support of Long Term Evolution (LTE) services.

Table of contents
1

Introduction

Evolutionary drivers in the Radio Access Network

The Operational cost environment

Advances in mobile radio technology

Requirements summary

The Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS Transport Solution for the RAN

Solution attributes

13

Conclusion

14

Abbreviations

14

Principal networking products in the solution

14

The 7705 Service Aggregation Router

15

The 7750 and 7710 Service Routers

Introduction
The principal advantage of moving to an IP/MPLS RAN infrastructure is the ability to accommodate
the massive scaling needs of the evolving mobile network at a reasonable cost. Some of the biggest
challenges resulting from this are in the backhaul and aggregation function in the RAN. Currently,
approximately 25% of operational expenditure (OPEX) is directed at the RAN providing significant
opportunities here for cost savings and business differentiation. As wireless networks have dramatically increased their coverage and subscriber base, wireline operators have been actively deploying
and leveraging broadband technology. This provides a significant opportunity for the mobile operator
community to leverage the best and most economical of these technologies for their own use. For
example, point-to-point microwave, Carrier Ethernet and dark fiber all have a role to play.
This document highlights the value of aggregation at hub locations and in the cell site itself. This
involves aggregation of traffic from a number of sources and equipment generations and its transport
over the most efficient media and transport protocols in a given application and geography.
As an end-to-end equipment supplier in the mobile space, Alcatel-Lucent is well positioned to provide
insight into the full, total-cost-of-ownership investigations and planning activities required to make
strategic actions in network rollout.

Evolutionary drivers in the Radio Access Network

The Operational cost environment
The operational cost environment raises issues that must be addressed and also presents opportunities
that can be seized by agile organizations deploying appropriate technology.
Until recently in the mobile RAN, a TDM or PDH approach has been taken across global geographies
and in the various mobile network standards. Figure 1, left side, shows the cost curve associated with
the TDM approach. The use of a carrier class Ethernet infrastructure and appropriate first mile media,
augmented with IP/MPLS promises to greatly smooth out and flatten the cost curve.

Figure 1. Traffic, Cost and revenue models for TDM and IP Backhaul
TDM backhaul model
Traffic,
capacity

IP backhaul model

Traffic

Cost

Capacity
Voice era

Voice era
Revenue

Revenue
Cost

Data era
Source: Unstrung

Service-aware data era

Source: Alcatel-Lucent Corporate Strategy

The ramp in traffic is due to a number of sources. While the subscriber penetration of voice service is
saturated in many markets, opportunistic use of voice is still rising, supported by pre-paid plans and
the lifestyle habits of the new mobile generation. However, the real traffic tsunami is coming from
data in all forms. Technology enablers such as HSPA, EV-DO and IMS/TISPAN have the potential
to generate huge amounts of data such as video-based services, gaming and rich web content. The

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

deployment of metro/national Carrier Ethernet networks will support this. IP-based NodeBs and
Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) are being quickly adopted by all major mobile equipment vendors.
New applications will drive data volume higher. Revenue opportunities will be numerous for responsive operators but revenue per bit transported will inevitably fall.
The left side of Figure 1 shows the implication of remaining on a TDM backhaul model as the
mobile data era rapidly unfolds. In this model, network capacity rises to absorb the traffic and
also to maintain service levels (to attract and retain subscribers); profitability becomes difficult to
achieve. The IP backhaul model, shown in the right side of Figure 1, deploys less capacity due to
efficient statistical multiplexing, especially of bursty data. The cost model is improved through the
use of granular and cost-effective transport media.
All this underscores the need for a flattened cost structure in the RAN transport network. The
use of IP/MPLS networking to leverage ubiquitous Ethernet and other available media enables
this transition.
Advances in mobile radio technology
The world of wireless mobility is experiencing the same phenomenon seen in fixed line broadband
over the past few years. Bandwidth-hungry applications are appearing while the access technology
evolves to support and enable them.
GSM/UMTS and HSPA

High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a generic term adopted by the UMTS Forum to refer to improvements in the UMTS Radio Interface in the Releases 5 and 6 of the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) standards. HSPA refers to both the improvements made in the UMTS downlink,
often referred to as High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and the improvements made in
the uplink, often referred to as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). HSDPA enables data
transmission speeds of up to 14.4Mbit/s per user. Both HSDPA and HSUPA can be implemented in
the standard 5 MHz carrier of UMTS networks and can co-exist with the first generation of UMTS
networks based on the 3GPP Release 99 (R99) standard. Capacity must increase in order to handle
the expected increase in traffic generated by HSPA. However, HSPA standards refer uniquely to the
access network, therefore there is no simultaneous change required of the core network.
Long term evolution

As wireless operators evaluate various backhaul options and assess their near and medium term
business cases, they must also consider the significant changes that LTE will bring to the network
architecture. In the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), LTE has evolved from when GSM/
EDGE and UMTS/HSPA technologies were previously the mobile technology standards. The focus
of the technology progression of LTE and 4G is to provide:
A transition to a flatter, all-IP network with the RNC radio access control functions moving
out to the cell site devices (eNodeBs)
The selection of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) and Multi-In
Multi-Out (MIMO) signal processing schemes in the radio access network to improve spectral
efficiency and throughput and to be packet-optimized
Speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s downlink and 50 Mbit/s uplink over 20 MHz of spectrum
More stringent network latencies of 10ms or less
A new Evolved Packet Core (EPC) that simplifies and reduces the network hierarchy, operates
only in the packet domain, and separates control and signaling from the bearer path
In the terrestrial backhaul network itself, investments in IP/MPLS (2G and 3G) transport infrastructure must be aligned with future evolution as LTE is deployed.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

Requirements summary
Based on the business and technology environment of the mobile radio access network, there is a
set of high level requirements that guides aspects of the evolving architecture and its deployment.
The following broad categories capture the principal issues that must be addressed when migrating
the RAN to an IP/MPLS transport infrastructure:
Increased backhaul solution cost efficiency: This cost efficiency refers to both capital and operational
expense reductions. It includes providing the ability to adapt a range of legacy access protocols to a
normalized IP/MPLS infrastructure over a range of first mile connectivity options. It also includes
allowing the leverage of lowered price points for Metro Ethernet, next-generation microwave, and
DSL. It is important to maintain this cost efficiency in a period of strong traffic growth.
Simplicity and speed of deployment and troubleshooting (OAM&P): Network devices must be simple
and intuitive to engineer, deploy and maintain, especially at the cell site where available expertise
may be particularly constrained. A full complement of OAM tools is needed to monitor and
correlate alarms and trouble shoot multiple layers in the network. Automated service assurance
monitoring capabilities are critical in understanding the network performance.
Scaling with flexibility: Typical cell sites today may need 2 to 6 T1/E1s of backhaul bandwidth.
Growing data traffic raises this requirement rapidly. Cell sites become denser, increasing connectivity and meshing requirements. Also the cell site aggregation devices themselves require
evolutionary transitions in the native handoff media (for example, from TDM and ATM to
Ethernet). The solution must scale flexibly in an evolutionary manner.
High Availability: The solution must equal or exceed the determinism and availability capabilities of current backhaul solutions. The 99.999% availability standard requires that the solutions
products support not only hardware component redundancy but also in-service software upgrades
and network link protection schemes. This can be crucial in subscriber attraction and retention,
to prevent churn particularly in the context of increasing fixed to mobile device substitution.
Sophisticated Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities: This must be supported to address aggregated
flow capabilities for tiered multimedia applications in terms of delay, jitter and loss. QoS capabilities must also be adaptable for more granular capabilities as the range of services supported in
the infrastructure broadens. QoS is not only required for user (bearer) traffic but also to support
control sessions and critical synchronization traffic.
End-to-end synchronization solutions: Solutions must be provided to maintain call quality, handover accuracy and traffic throughput to meet required accuracy targets at an acceptable cost.
The distribution of network timing over an Ethernet backhaul infrastructure presents added
challenges when compared to using a traditional TDM synchronous network backhauling.
Backhaul transport future migration to LTE: A strong, near term business case can be made for
migrating 2G and 3G/HSPA traffic to an IP/MPLS infrastructure by leveraging the reduced cost
points of Ethernet transport. However, it is important that these investments are aligned with
the operators needs to evolve to the support of the LTE architecture.
In addition to these networking issues, there are management and organizational requirements that
must be met to successfully complete this transformation in the mobile RAN. Expertise is needed
in packet solutions integration (for example, into the OSS), deployment and operation. This can
often be addressed by engaging an experienced vendor service organization to augment the mobile
operators in-house team.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

The Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS Transport Solution for the RAN

The Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS Transport solution for the RAN is founded upon the powerful IP/MPLS
technology infrastructure that has been created in (and deployed on) the Service Router family
of products. This is an end-to-end solution. At the Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO),
a 7750 Service Router or 7710 Service Router provides aggregation and resilient handoff to collocated controllers. These highly flexible service platforms can also support other roles in the MTSO,
including traffic consolidation within the MTSO or participation in a backbone VPN for mobile
core transport. The solution allows traffic to be backhauled over a TDM infrastructure, an Ethernet
infrastructure or a combination of the two. The 7705 SAR can be located in the cell site or at an
intermediate hubbing point. Selection of the particular 7705 SAR model (SAR-8 or SAR-F) depends
upon the Ethernet density, level of hardware redundancy required, cabinet or racking space, powering and building conditioning that is required at the site. The 7705 SAR uses MPLS pseudowires
to transport the traffic over the Ethernet and/or a TDM Backhaul network. Different pseudowire
encapsulations are used depending upon the type of traffic being emulated. The 5620 Service Aware
Manager (SAM) provides GUI-based, powerful, and efficient capabilities for end-to-end management, provisioning, monitoring and troubleshooting.
The 7705 SAR owes much of its development heritage to the 7750 Service Router (SR), and in particular, the Service Router software platform, the SR-OS. This software consistency brings powerful
end-to-end capabilities for resiliency, OAM and provisioning solutions.

Figure 2. The IP/MPLS Transport Solution for the RAN

5620 SAM
Convergence through
existing TDM network

(OC-3/STM-1ch)

nxT1/E1
BTS

ILEC or microwave
TDM Network

(OC-3/STM-1ch)

Point of concentration options

9500 MPR

7705 SAR-8/
7705 SAR-F

NodeB

OC-3ch/STM-1ch
Ethernet
ATM (OC-3/STM-1)

MPLS or GRE
tunnel
7710/
7750 SR

Ethernet

Convergence over
Ethernet network

7710 SR-c4

T1/E1 TDM
ATM/IMA
(nxT1/E1)

BTS/
NodeB

7705 SAR

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

Ethernet/DSL

Carrier Ethernet
(MPLS) or
IP Network

Gigabit
Ethernet

RNCs, BSCs

Solution attributes
Cost efficiency

To date in the mobile RAN, a Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) approach has been taken
across global geographies and in the various mobile network standards. This approach has included
the use of nxT1 or nxE1 copper in the first mile and/or the use of PDH point-to-point microwave as
available. This has led to a steep stair case cost function in the provisioning of RAN bandwidth
a roughly linear relationship between bandwidth and cost. The use of a carrier class Ethernet infrastructure augmented with the determinism, resiliency and management control brought by IP/
MPLS can be shown to greatly smooth out and flatten the cost curve. This can produce significant OPEX reductions in one of the greatest recurring cost areas: the cost per bit for RAN backhaul.
Note that Alcatel-Lucents solution, as shown in Figure 2, still accommodates the use of PDH T1/E1
facilities where they are plentiful and/or preferred. This may be the case in a hybrid scenario where
traffic can be split, close to the cell site, with the legacy traffic retained on a PDH infrastructure
(for example, via nxE1/T1). In this case the bulk data is carried over the less expensive media, such
as a Carrier Ethernet capability. Tunnelling of this offloaded traffic can use MPLS. Alternatively,
Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunneling can be used if a carrier does not have access to a
fully ubiquitous MPLS infrastructure. GRE tunneling provides an effective, widely usable technique
by simply using a standard IP address as an outer label; as a tunnel wrapper. This wrapper can
be routed by any ISP network that is commonly accessed via DSL. A significant advantage of this
solution is that the IP/MPLS feature set is maintained. For example, it supports end to end OAM
visibility to monitor SLAs.
Leverage Microwave Transport

Where leased line costs are particularly prohibitive and Ethernet is not available, particularly in the
first mile, packet microwave access can be an attractive option. The solution shows the 9500 Microwave
Packet Radio (MPR) as a point of concentration (PoC) option. The 9500 MPR supports adaptive
modulation allowing available bandwidth (depending on atmospheric conditions) to be allocated in
a service-aware fashion. The product architecture and management synergy between the 9500 MPR
and the 7705 SAR allows for a strong combined solution, particularly in the cell backhaul to concentrating hub sites.

The job of building and enhancing the network will never be fully complete, not if
we are going to continue exceeding our customers expectations. Its the nature of
our business.
Ed Reynolds, president of Network Services for Cingular, October 3rd, 2006

Reducing Management Costs

Another significant contributor to OPEX is the management of the access network includingprovisioning, commissioning and troubleshooting. The costs of this management can be reduced by both the
inherent values of the 5620 SAM management platform and also embedded product OAM capabilities
that allow for accurate isolation and identification of operational issues.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

Management and OAM power and simplicity

The mobile RAN is characterized by rapid growth and a high churn rate in the diversity of its access
types. As mobile networks grow, added capacity is applied to existing cells, new cells are added and
cells are split. Potentially, there is a lot of continuous rebalancing in the RAN. This has a major impact on the cost of network ownership. Strong network management tools and processes are needed
to control OPEX. This reality, in conjunction with the rising use of IP/MPLS in the RAN, leads to
a number of concerns and issues that must be addressed by the management capabilities of network
equipment, OSS/BSS components or specific operating procedures. These issues include:
The expertise gap. Many mobile operators have limited depth of experience in the deployment
of packet and Ethernet-centric topologies.
Time and cost to integrate and operationalize new networking infrastructures in OSS/BSS systems.
Managing the process logistics for the upgrading, maintenance and ongoing re-engineering of
the numerous cell sites.
The use of IP/MPLS as a networking infrastructure provides inherent management capabilities,
particularly in the areas of diagnostics, troubleshooting, connectivity and verification. The ability to
carry out smart LSP Pings, Virtual Circuit Connectivity verification (VCCV) and Traceroute operations within the network itself can bring much determinism to network operations. Alcatel-Lucent
continues to develop these standards in the major forums and standards groups. Alcatel-Lucent has
introduced forward compatible, pre-standard enhancements to provide even more service-aware
operations capability.
The Alcatel-Lucent 7705 SAR provides a full set of operations, administration and maintenance
(OAM) features including:
LSP ping
LSP traceroute
Service distribution path (SDP) ping
Verifies tunnel connectivity and round trip delay
Virtual circuit connectivity verification (VCCV)
Verifies service level existence and round trip time
Extends OAM to pseudowire services
The Service Assurance Agent (SAA) runs in the background, periodically collecting network
health information from OAM mechanisms such as VCCV and monitoring for problems such
as SLA transgressions.
These features, under the control of the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 management portfolio, ensure rapid
fault detection as well as efficient troubleshooting. In particular, SLAs can be monitored, and
transgressions detected and reported via the SAA.
As shown in Figure 3, an efficient procedure can be established that consists of the creation of a test
suite with a specific policy, target and schedule. Standard suite templates are created for common
configurations. Then the OAM test is run automatically, comparing test results with desired metrics
and reporting SLA transgressions.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

Figure 3. 5620 SAM plus enriched OAM Proactive, automated service (SLA) verification and reporting
MTSO
Cell site
OC-3/STM-1
GigE
Packet transport network
(All-IP transport)

7705 SAR

RNC
7750 SR

NodeB/BTS

Create test suite

Test policy

OAM tests
VCC Ping, LSP Ping
Sequence: First, next, last
TCA = packet loss, jitter, delay
Set operational status flag
Test target
C-Pipe service 1
E-pipe service 2
C-pipe service 3
C-pipe service 4
Ethernet pseudowires
ATM pseudowires
TDM pseudowires

OC-3ch/
STM-1ch

BSC

OAM tests Auto Creation

Test result

Compare to SLA metrics

Schedule
Every hour

Scaling with flexibility

The rising traffic volumes, driven by mobile broadband deployment, generate a clear need for a
solution that scales up smoothly in a number of dimensions (for example in recurring media leasing
costs, network protocols deployed and in the smooth growth of the network platforms themselves).
Packet-based backhaul allows bandwidth to be purchased in a very granular fashion so there is no
need to stockpile unused bandwidth as often happens in TDM-based backhaul. The use of IP/MPLS
tunneling protocols to the cell site allows highly scalable fan-in for backhaul connectivity. As traffic
volumes grow, the network platforms that comprise the solution (for example, the 7705 SAR and
the 7750 SR) provide efficient scalability because of their highly modular architecture. For example,
recent enhancements to the 7750 SR allow it to scale to an industry-leading system capacity of
1 Terabit/s in just one third of a standard rack.
Another important aspect of scaling is the ability to scale down under certain circumstances to
allow growth to be driven by business needs rather than the attributes of the solution. For example,
at the edge of the network, data traffic volume may initially be quite low in some cell sites. The two
rack unit (2 RU) 7705 SAR-8 can be minimally configured with a control module and one or two
adapter cards initially. The platform can be smoothly scaled to support up to 96 T1/E1 connections
in a fully configured state. The 7705 SAR-F is a fixed configuration version of the SAR. The 7705
SAR-F is packaged in a one rack unit (1 RU) form factor that supports up to 16 T1/E1 any service,
any port (ASAP) ports. Also as traffic volumes grow, 10/100 Ethernet and even Gigabit Ethernet
options are available as transport media. While metro Ethernet is the target uplink media, there is
flexibility to use other media types as needed and where Ethernet may not be available. In the back
haul, particularly in the first mile, a range of media is needed due to the ubiquitous nature of the
RAN itself.
One attractive approach for many carriers is to operate in a hybrid fashion, splitting voice traffic
from bulk data. The legacy voice may be conservatively carried on the TDM network while rapidly
growing data can be placed on a packet infrastructure over Ethernet as shown in Figure 2.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

Base stations will offer multiple transport technologies for some time. Carriers have substantial
investments in 2G (TDM) and 3G (ATM) traditional transport technologies. Pseudowire technology
is used within the solution to encapsulate and transport TDM, ATM and Ethernet traffic. Deploying pseudowires over an IP/MPLS infrastructure allows the most cost-effective media to be used to
backhaul the aggregated traffic. The flexible Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS backhaul solution allows these
investments to be fully amortized while supporting the transition to Ethernet media when driven by
pragmatic economics and business conditions.
Moving to all-IP routed RAN Transport

As the 2G and 3G mobile RAN components (base stations and controllers) evolve to support true
IP/Ethernet capability, routing functions can be added progressively in the transport network. This
routing capability can operate in parallel and in series with pseudowire networking for a smooth
evolution path for 2G and 3G networks. Routing is initially deployed in the 7710/7750 SR collocated
with the mobile controllers (RNCs, BSCs) as shown in Figure 2. The SR product line offers excellent, resilient and manageable routing with strong QoS and virtualization capabilities. Evolution to
routed IP RAN transport provides a logical progression to LTE networking also.
High availability

In a saturated market experiencing high user churn rates, high network availability or resiliency is a
differentiating factor and can drive customer loyalty and reduce churn. High availability is important
with wireless device substitution where mobile devices become the primary communications appliance. Any packet-based solution must meet or exceed the resiliency benchmarks delivered by legacy
TDM/PDH-based approaches. Transport solution resiliency can be considered in two categories:
Platform attributes
Networking capabilities
At the platform level, Alcatel-Lucent has applied considerable focus to achieving High Availability
operation via Non-Stop Routing (NSR) and Non-Stop Signaling (NSS). This is part of a concerted
thrust to elevate IP/MPLS networks to the high availability levels demanded by next generation
networking. A control plane switchover scheduled or unplanned on the Alcatel-Lucent 7710
SR or the 7750 SR is almost instantaneous (for example, 4mS for a hardware triggered event and
1uS for a software induced switchover). During and after the transition, routing, signaling and forwarding are unaffected. In addition, there is no re-convergence activity required in the node or
in the network. This same resiliency of common control elements is inherited by the 7705 SAR-8
and represents a significant differentiator for the overall solution.
While strong platform resiliency attributes are needed, the use of dynamic MPLS as a pseudowire
infrastructure provides rapid, deterministic failure accommodation in the network. As shown in
Figure 4, Fast Re-Route (FRR) gives a sub-50 ms failover path for each hop along the network.
Although these paths provide very quick restoration, they are typically not optimal for network
efficiency. The second level of network restoration is the secondary label switched path (LSP). This
LSP represents the optimal backup path between a source and destination. By combining these
methods, an operator of a large RAN obtains the best of both these resiliency techniques. FRR
rapidly creates a temporary path around a failure which allows customer traffic to continue to its
destination. The secondary LSP, when it is invoked a number of milliseconds later, provides an
optimal reroute until the primary path can be repaired. Traffic engineering tools can be used
offline to model single failures and ensure they can be accommodated.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

The hardware switchover time (of the 7750 SR) was two orders of magnitude
faster than other 3rd party routers.
BT Exact, April 2005

Figure 4. Network Dynamic Resiliency capabilities

End-to-end management: Traffic engineering tools to model failures
<50 ms restoration via
Fast Reroute (FRR)
Uplink protection
MPLS layer: ECMP load balancing
Physical layer: T1/E1 MLPPP
MTSO

7705 SAR
BSC, RNC

7750 SR

Global restoration via

trafc engineered,
disjoint, secondary
switched path

In addition to this, the Alcatel-Lucent solution provides resiliency to end point failures at the aggregation point in the MTSO. The combination of redundant pseudowires and multi-chassis APS
(MC-APS) or multi-chassis-LAG (MC-LAG) allows a rapid activity switch initiated under unrecoverable node or link failure in a dual homed scenario as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Pseudowire Redundancy with multi-chassis APS or LAG

Active pseudowire

Switchover synchronized with

multichassis APS, LAG

MTSO

BSC, RNC

7750 SR

Standby pseudowire

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

The switchover is synchronized with MC-APS (for ATM or TDM pseudowires) or MC-LAG in an
Ethernet case. This capability has been pioneered by Alcatel-Lucent and supported with standardization activity in the IETF. Independent test results from Isocore confirm the rapid switch over
times achievable with this capability.
Quality of Service capabilities

The provision of deterministic QoS is important. It provides equitable treatment to individual traffic
streams and appropriate priority for highly delay sensitive applications. As well, it allows synchronization mechanisms to converge rapidly across the packet RAN. Currently, the mobile RAN does
not require per-subscriber granular queuing and scheduling. However, per-aggregated flow classification and treatment are very important in this context.
Standards Guidance

The 3G Partnership Project (3GPP), in TS23.107 and GSMA PRD IR.34, describes four major
classes of service as depicted in Table 1.
Table 1. 3GPP Defined traffic classes
Traffic Class

Max Delay

Max Jitter

Packet Loss

SDU Error

Conversational

20 mS

5 mS

0.5%

10 -6

Streaming

40 mS

5 mS

0.5%

10 -6

Interactive 1

250 mS

0.1%

10 -8

Interactive 2

300 mS

0.1%

10 -8

Interactive 3

350 mS

0.1%

10 -8

Background

400 mS

0.1%

10 -8

The defined classes are: Conversational, Streaming, Interactive and Background. The Interactive
class is further subdivided into three subclasses for a total of six differentiable data streams. The
highest priority class (Conversational) is reserved for both audio (telephony, push-to-talk) and twoway video traffic. In scheduling voice and conversational video traffic onto the transport media,
a hierarchical approach to QoS support is most effective. In particular, the ability to apply strict
prioritization for voice and video traffic while weighting other traffic streams appropriately will
produce the best, deterministic behavior. This is especially true under high burst loads or network
resource failure conditions, when QoS and traffic engineering mechanisms are truly tested.
While the traffic management and QoS capabilities of the Service Router family are extensive and
well-known, the 7705 SAR, usually situated closer to the cell site locations, has a strong capability
in this area also. This allows for consistency in treatment end-to-end. The 7705 SAR supports an
extensive range of multi-layer classification and marking capabilities. Supported scheduling methods
include hierarchical, multi-tier profiled and queue-type based techniques plus profile-based policing
and shaping. The operator has many options to assure equitable access to network resources. These
include excellent hardware queue scaling, premium, assured and best-effort forwarding classes and
Weighted Random Early Detection/Discard (WRED) on both ingress and egress traffic.
A RAN transport capability represents a significant investment for the mobile carrier. The capabilities
of that network must be evolvable as the surrounding mobile elements evolve in their ability to
engineer and mark traffic for appropriate treatment in the transport network. Trends such as IMS,
Fixed/Mobile convergence (bringing wireline or fixed wireless access traffic onto the same infrastructure) and the 3G LTE will all increase the diversity of traffic types overlaid on the RAN. To

10

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

accommodate these developments, QoS flexibility, scalability and performance must be present in
the initial deployed platform architecture. Any operator planning to move towards converged service
offerings supported on the same network (for example, Triple Play, enterprise VPNs or mobile or
fixed broadband wireless access), will find that advanced hierarchical QoS capabilities are powerful
competitive resources over the life of the network and much harder to add later.
Synchronization

Synchronization is important in the mobile RAN where mobile system elements must be kept in tight
synchronization so communications can proceed effectively without dropped calls or distortion/noise.
In the mobile RAN, the need for synchronization is focused in three areas as depicted in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Areas of importance for synchronization in the mobile RAN

BTS

Radio
framing
accuracy

BSC

BTS

BSC

Mobile core
network(s)

NodeB
2

RNC

Handoff control

NodeB
3

Backhaul transport
reliability

RNC

Radio framing accuracy is concerned with the correct insertion and extraction of protocol elements
in the air interface. This allows for reliable communications even under sub-optimal conditions and
also maximum bandwidth usage. A typical clocking accuracy target for GSM/UMTS frequency division
duplexing (FDD) is 50 parts per billion. Soft handoff mechanisms are used as a mobile device moves
into another cell or sector. By monitoring the radio power at the receiver (for example, the mobile
device), a correct decision can be made to switch to another signal. A make-before-break mechanism
is used within strict timing constraints to ensure uninterrupted communications. Wander and jitter
in the backhaul and aggregation network can cause underflows and overflows in buffers. Slips in the
PDH framing can cause bit errors leading to packet rejections.
Synchronization is required to ensure accurate radio framing, effective handoffs and reliable backhaul
transport. The Alcatel-Lucent solution provides a range of synchronization options suitable for different
environments. The four principal options for synchronization are shown in Figure 7.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

11

Figure 7. Synchronization options

N

GPS

External
Synchronization

Line
Synchronization

PDH/SDH
7705 SAR

ACR
Adaptive
clock recovery

Primary
reference
clock

7705 SAR

Constant rate
packet flow

7750 SR

Ethernet

7705 SAR
Synch. Ethernet

Synchronous
Ethernet

7705 SAR

Ethernet

External timing can be used, for example, from a satellite positioning system such as GPS or Galileo.
GPS satellites carry atomic clocks and can deliver high integrity frequency and phase stabilized timing.
Line timing can be delivered via the PDH/SDH hierarchy from a clock with a known accuracy.
This is useful in cases where there is a PDH linkage into the cell site (for example, an E1/T1 link).
The clocking chain must be compliant with G.823/824. Transparent clock or boundary clocks are
needed in intermediate nodes throughout the PDH/SDH chain back to the PRC.
Adaptive clock recovery (ACR) can be used when there is a non-synchronous packet infrastructure
between the reference clock and the cell site. TDM pseudowires are established from the 7750 SR
in the MTSO to the 7705 SARs at the edge. The ACR algorithm in the 7705 SAR uses the payload
traffic stream within the TDM pseudowire in order to adapt its local clocking. The main determinants
of the solutions effectiveness are the power of the ACR algorithm and the QoS characteristics of the
intervening packet network between the reference clock and the synchronizing client. The AlcatelLucent Enhanced Adaptive Clock Recovery algorithm enables the TDM PWE3 solution to meet
the G.823 and G.824 Jitter and Wander masks in traffic conditions (as defined by the Metro Ethernet
Forum and the G.8261-draft). It also meets the more stringent requirements of 3G applications
TS-25.402 (Testing Synchronization in UMTS networks) making it well suited for 3G and 2G
wireless applications.
Practical experience with ACR has clearly confirmed the importance of the QoS characteristics of
the backhaul network in determining clock synchronization accuracy. Testing by mobile operators
under live conditions and also by independent test authorities confirms that the Alcatel-Lucent
solution meets maximum time interval error (MTIE) and time deviation (TDEV) targets even in
the presence of sustained and bursty background loads.
Synchronous ethernet is a powerful technique offering excellent, non-traffic affected frequency
synchronization performance. End-to-end support across the Alcatel-Lucent solution elements is
available from the MTSO to the cell site. Note that a continuous path of synchronous Ethernetcapable links and nodes is needed from the source along the synchronization distribution chain
across the network.
12

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

The synchronization solution is also highly resilient and can be configured with strong redundancy.
Up to four synchronization sources can be defined in a priority order for redundancy. If a sync source
fails, the system accesses the next source in a defined priority order. Reversion/non-reversion is also
possible. To further boost resiliency, the 7705 SAR at the edge of the network contains a built-in
Stratum 3 clock providing holdover capability if there is a temporary synchronization source loss.
In general, synchronization capture and distribution should be considered as part of an end-to-end
verified system, rather than a set of per-box capabilities. Techniques such as IEEE 1588v2 show significant promise for certain network applications.
Implementations should be assessed for the completeness of the solution to include synchronization
propagation with appropriate accuracy at an acceptable cost.
Long term evolution aspects

As operators implement their modernized backhaul and aggregation networks for cost-effective,
scalable transport of mobile services, it is important to plan and invest for the future. Investments
made today in the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS solution for GSM and W-CDMA RAN backhaul will
continue to be leveraged as LTE services are deployed. Low latency and highly scalable ethernetcentric transport will continue to be key attributes. Network design will be flexible in an LTE backhaul infrastructure. It will support both deterministic tunneling and full IP routing and forwarding
where required in the access network. Quality of service and quality of experience will become more
granular and policy-driven for individual users and applications. The solution has extensive capabilities
in all these areas. Alcatel-Lucents flexible architecture supports the near and medium term business
case and prepares its evolution.

Conclusion
The Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS solution for RAN transport provides a complete, managed end-to-end
architecture to address the requirements of evolving mobile networks. In particular, the solution is
highly adaptable to shifts in media leasing costs or availability. The solution is also fully verified in
real-world mobility and rigorous test environments.
Increased cost efficiency is achieved in a number of ways: Via the use of cost optimized first
mile media, the leverage of lowered price points for Metro Ethernet, and next generation packetoptimized microwave.
Rapid and efficient deployment and management is supported by service-aware tools and protocols
which simplify provisioning, commissioning, trouble shooting and SLA monitoring tasks.
High availability maximizes network uptime with Alcatel-Lucents specific platform-differentiating
features. Also, strong networking resiliency is available to direct traffic around failed links or network
elements with minimal detectable impact on the transported services.
Alcatel-Lucents sophisticated Quality of Service capabilities are supported at wire rate. This allows
for the appropriate prioritization of a wide variety of traffic streams including crucial synchronization
traffic allowing adaptive algorithmic techniques to be used as needed.
The Isocore Technical Report: Evaluation of Alcatel-Lucent IP Mobile Backhaul Solution June 2008
provides independent and documented verification of the principal solution-differentiating attributes.
Alcatel-Lucent has the end-to-end products, breadth of experience gained from many real-world
IP network transformations and the service competency needed to mass deploy and operationalize
a true next-generation solution for mobile networking.

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

13

Abbreviations
ARPU

average revenue per user

OSS

Operational Support System

BSC

base station controller

PDH

Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy

BTS

base transceiver station

PRC

primary reference clock

CAPEX

capital expenditures

PSTN

public switched telephone network

CDMA

code division multiple access

PWE3

pseudowire end to end emulation

DSCP

diffserv code point

QoS

quality of service

EDGE

enhanced data rates for GSM evolution

RAN

radio access network

EPC

evolved packet core

RNC

radio network controller

FDD

frequency division duplexing

SDH

synchronous digital hierarchy

GGSN

gateway GPRS serving node

SGSN

serving GPRS support node

GPRS

general packet radio service

SHDSL

single-line high bit rate digital subscriber line

GPS

global positioning system

SLA

service level agreement

GSM

global system for mobile communications

SONET

synchronous optical network

HSDPA

high speed downlink packet access

TCP

transmission control protocol

IMA

inverse multiplexing for ATM

TDD

time division duplexing

IMS

IP multimedia subsystem

TDM

time division multiplexing

IP

Internet protocol

UMTS

universal mobile telecommunications service

IPD

Internet Protocol Division (of Alcatel-Lucent)

UTRAN

UMTS terrestrial radio access network

LSP

label switched path

VCCV

virtual circuit connectivity verification

MPLS

multiprotocol label switching

VoIP

voice over IP

MSC

mobile switching center

VPLS

virtual private lan service

NGN

next generation network

VPN

virtual private network

OAM

operations, administration and maintenance

VRRP

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol

OFDMA

orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access

WBB

wireless broadband

OPEX

operational expenditures

W-CDMA

wideband code division multiple access

Principal networking products in the solution

The 7705 Service Aggregation Router
The 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) platform delivers any-G convergence in the mobile RAN. With native service processing of 2G/3G/4G traffic,
the 7705 SAR has the ability to groom multiple media and transport protocols
onto a normalized, economical packet transport infrastructure. The 7705 SAR
owes much of its development heritage to the Alcatel-Lucent Service Router (SR)
product line. Sharing much of the market-leading feature set of that product,
the 7705 SAR brings a powerful, service-oriented capability to the RAN, but
in a form factor and price point that are particularly appropriate for cell sites
and hub locations. With end-to-end service creation under the Alcatel-Lucent
5620 management portfolio, the 7705 SAR greatly augments the IP/MPLS
RAN transport solution from Alcatel-Lucent. Industry-leading scalability and
density is provided by the 8-slot, two RU version (the 7705 SAR-8) that supports up to 96 T1/E1 any service, any port (ASAP) ports. The platform can
be optionally configured with a redundant core control module and uplinks.
The 7705 SAR-8 has eight slots; two are allocated for control modules, with
the remaining six available for user traffic interface modules. The 7705 SAR-F
is a fixed configuration version of the SAR. The 7705 SAR-F is packaged in
a one rack unit (1 RU) form factor that supports up to 16 T1/E1 any service
any port (ASAP) ports. The ASAP ports can be configured to support ATM,

14

GSM and W-CDMA RAN Transport | Application Note

inverse multiplexing over ATM (IMA), TDM and MLPPP. Six 10/100 Base-T
auto-sensing Ethernet ports are provided, plus two further ports supporting
10/100/1000 Base TX with small form factor pluggable optics (SFPs).
The 7705 SARs media connectivity options are: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (FE),
Gigabit Ethernet (GE), or n xT1/E1 multi-link point-to-point protocol (MLPPP).
The 7750 and 7710 Service Routers
The Alcatel-Lucent 7750 and 7710 Service Routers are designed and optimized
for the delivery of high performance data, voice and videoservices. These service
routers offer unmatched density and performance up to 1 Terabit/s of system
capacity in one-third of a rack (in the 7750 SR-12 slot variant). This, along with
its advanced service-oriented features and ability to seamlessly integrate into
existing IP networks, makes it the ideal choice for service providers who are
looking to reduce CAPEX and OPEX and thereby maximize profit from their
packet networks.
The service routers employ network processor-based, fully programmable, Flexible Fast Path technology, offering the ability to customize or add new services
and adapt to emerging standards with simple in-service downloads instead of
expensive hardware upgrades. They are fully managed by the industry-leading
Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) which is designed to simplify the service provisioning, management and troubleshooting of IP/MPLS
networks. The introduction of the Application Assurance Integrated Service
Adapter (AA-ISA) provides advanced per-subscriber and per application processing capabilities The AA-ISA extends the service depth and functionality
of the 7750 SR by virtualizing advanced application intelligence, provided by
extensive subscriber policy and traffic management capabilities via real-time
deep packet inspection (DPI).
All these features allow service providers to roll out new service faster, to
more customers, and at a lower operational cost on a common network infrastructure. In a MTSO-based, mobile RAN role, these service routers deliver
a powerful central, complementary function to the distributed SARs. Highly
scalable termination of TDM, ATM and Ethernet pseudowires is supported
together with full, wire-rate IP and MPLS routing signaling and forwarding for
a comprehensive networking solution. The 7750/7710 Service Routers can also
carry out roles in the backbone with full VPN (Layer 2 and Layer 3) support
for the interconnection of media gateways, RNCs or signaling gateways.

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