Capacity Planning Service for Radio Access CDMA Networks

The paper describes a capacity planning methodology for radio access networks and presents a case study focusing on the CDMA technology. It addresses the complex problem of how the Radio Access Network (RAN) should be optimally equipped to accommodate traffic growth (and fluctuations in traffic patterns in broader terms) over time, while fulfilling the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of a Mobile Network Operator. A bottom-up approach is used, i.e., first it evaluates the required resources over the air-interface; then the base stations hardware resources (in terms of Channel Elements (CEs) and Channel Cards). Finally, the transport/backhaul domain is evaluated by estimating the number of links between the RAN and the Core domains as well as the bandwidth of these links. This methodology has been largely tested with field data and is being used by Network Operators.