QoS Load Differentiation Application in a UTRAN Live Network

Quality of service (QoS) load differentiation mechanisms allow a network to allocate resources to users in situations of capacity constraints depending on their priority. The need to apply QoS mechanisms is driven by the increased demand for finite resources and in the case of cellular networks this has been exacerbated largely due to HSPA data traffic growth. This paper describes results of a QoS investigation on a real live UTRAN network with a significant number of real users. The results presented show improvements in terms of throughput and delay. The trial led to the identification and confirmation of an ldquooptimum proportionrdquo of ldquohighest classrdquo users in a network under various traffic conditions initially via an HSPA traffic model then via real traffic profiles in the live network. This exercise has led to the identification and proposal of two new algorithms and are outlined in this paper: Iub congestion control is improved to prioritize users per node B (inter-cell) and a new scheduler algorithm is proposed to take into account the users/services delay depending on their priority.