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HSDPA Wireless Broadband Link Performance

E. Sedoyeka, S. Almasri, A. Rahman and Z. Hunaiti


Faculty of Science and Technology, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK amani@rightclicktz.com

Abstract-Third Generation (3G) technologies have introduced a new era of mobility not only for cellular phones but also for broadband services. With the rise of high bandwidth demand applications, a number of challenges emerge. This paper presents results obtained while testing the performance of the 3G wireless broadband in a number of scenarios to reflect the end users experience. The test evaluates High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), a 3G mobile technology, testing its link characteristics on different scenarios. During the test, four major link characteristics: latency, throughput, link outage and packet loss were tested. These are the characteristics that cause direct effects to the Quality of Service (QoS). To perform the test, the TMobile of-the-shelf public available WebnWalk data card was used.

users demands. Designed to strengthen three pillars of UMTS, HSDPA equips networks with continuity of service, multimedia support and simultaneous transmission of voice and data at higher rates and lower latency. HSDPA will later be upgraded to HSOPA, a part of 3GPPs Long Term Evolution (LTE) project that is still under development [7]. III. LINK ASSESMENT Using a Toshiba Equium laptop connected to T-Mobile network using a WebnWalk PCMCIA data card, a link was established to the Internet (fig. 1). After that, a series of Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets were sent to different web servers and their RTT were recorded. 9.8MB Files were also uploaded and downloaded to and from the FTP site and time taken per each scenario was recorded. This exercise was repeated at different periods of the day over a period of 2 weeks. To test different scenarios, the test was conducted in Chelmsford, which represents suburban areas, and in London, which represents urban areas. Initially, ICMP packets were sent to www.yahoo.co.uk to get a clear picture of RTT from UK based server and later to www.yahoo.com to get an international experience on RTT. During the rest of the test, pings were sent to www.rightclicktz.com, a private server (fig 1). The test was also conducted using different systems to get a fair comparison. JANET, a network connecting Universities and other educational institutions in the UK, was used to establish a benchmark of performance since it is one of the best networks in the country [4]. ASDL technology was also used to get the level of broadband services experienced by many UK Internet users. A computer connected to British Telecom [6] network was used to conduct the tests.

I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, the world has witnessed a major shift in the way people access information. Leading the way, the Internet provides different ways to access, manipulate and share vast amounts of information regardless of location. Mobile broadband technologies are now taking the front role in linking users to information whilst providing them with mobility features. Mobile phone technologies came with the way of providing communication through voice and then data in terms of text. Nowadays, these technologies provides more functionality including picture and video, and above all, broadband connection. HSDPA protocol is one of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) 3G technologies leading the way by providing users with mobile broadband services [1]. This performance assessment test was performed to test 3G UMTS technology using T-Mobile WebnWalk data card, which utilises HSDPA technology. The test was conducted in two areas, Chelmsford, Essex and Greenwich, London. II. HSDPA BRIEFLY UMTS 3G started by using a number of standards like Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), UMTS-TDD (Time Division Multiplexing), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) and others to provide enhanced performance for networks. The upgrade of 3G resulted to 3.5G technologies, mainly HSDPA. This is a 3.5G packet air interface technique that theoretically allows up to 3.6Mbps data rates for Category 6 mobile per user and goes as high as 14 Mbps for Category 10 mobile per user. HSDPA uses High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) for multi-user and uses shorter Transmission Time Interval (TTI) techniques at physical layer with adoptive modulations and coding for speed transmission. It also uses Automatic Repeat-reQuest (ARQ) scheme for error recovery at the physical layer and Hybrid (HARQ) protocol at MAC layer for error corrections and fast retransmission. These features enable HSDPA to automatically adjust the size of the pipe depending on the
ISBN: 1-9025-6016-7 2007 PGNet

Fig. 1 Link test setup

Since the link was using air interface, a number of factors affected link strength and hence the throughput. These are issues like atmospheric humidity, number of users per cell,

period of a day or week, location (indoor, outdoor, in the tunnel etc) and many more. Due to these issues, tests were conducted during different times of the day and week as well as different locations. The results were analysed and summarised. IV. LATENCY / DELAY This is the delay experienced by the sender from the time the packets were sent, through the Internet to the destination. To measure the latency, ICMPs were used to measure Round Trip Delay Time (RTT), which is the delay experienced when a packet is sent, to the destination and back to the sender. Normally, ICMP packets are used to test the quality of the link since round-time delay significantly affects throughput rate [2]. More than 100 packets were sent in every test in the groups of 4 packets per ping as shown in fig. 2.

RTT at 2200 Hours


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UMTS + DL RTT (ms) UMTS RTT (ms) UMTS + UL RTT (ms)

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Fig. 4 UL vs DL RTTs

Although the graphic presentation of the RTTs (fig. 4) did not show such a big difference between fluctuations Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL), there was a clear difference between DL and UL links as captured with a Windows networkmonitoring tool (fig. 5,6,7).
Fig. 2 A snapshot of ping utility during RTT test

The test began by establishing the normal delay. This was achieved by pinging yahoo.com during one afternoon from a computer connected to JANET, ADSL and T-Mobiles network. Results were recorded and put into the graph (fig. 3).
JANET vs ADSL vs UMTS
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UMTS ADSL JANET

Fig. 45 A Fluctuating DL link

ICMPs

Fig. 3 a comparison between JANET, UMTS and ADSL

All three technologies seem stable with negligible packet losses with JANET showing its strength. The ICMP tests were then directed to a private domain, www.rightclicktz.com, where three different tests were conducted. These were to ping the server with a clear link, pinging while downloading (RTT+DL) and pinging while uploading (RTT+UL) a file. At this stage the differences started to show up. The link quality started to fluctuate returning varying RTTs (fig 4). The fluctuation became more vivid in peak times like during the afternoon.

Fig. 6 A stable UL link

The test was also conducted to see the characteristics of UL and DL while simultaneously uploading and downloading files. The results were similar to the above test (fig 5 and 6), where DL has shown instabilities than UL (fig. 7).

Fig. 7 DL and UL simultaneously

DL

UL

Although the graphs show significant fluctuations especially in DL channel, the actual experience is difference. In normal web usage, the delay was not significantly affecting any Internet surfing. In fact, in some occasions, RTTs while uploading/downloading file turned up to be lower than RTT while no file was being uploaded or downloaded. This can be explained by the fact that HSDPA automatically adjust the bandwidth allocation depending on a users demands [1]. This means, since uploading/downloading was using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), HSDPA automatically adjust the pipe size and this gives way for ICMP packets to go faster, taking the advantage of the bandwidth, since they are of a different protocol. The Number of users per area also showed a significant effect on the delay experienced by users. The test was conducted to compare Chelmsford, a suburban area with fewer users, with London, an urban area with many users. The results (fig. 8 below) show that as the number of users increases the delay also increases [2].
London vs Chelmsford Delay

V. LINK OUTAGE This is the situation where the connection to the Internet is lost. This is due to different reasons, mainly congestion. While in Chelmsford, there were minimum or negligible outages. When the same test was conducted in London, where there are many users per cell, the number of outage periods increased. The situation is also different in London when tests were conducted in different areas and different times. Link outages were minimal during late hours e.g. around 1:00 am. Higher outages were experienced during pick time e.g. around 2.00 pm. Despite these outages, Internet navigation was not disturbed significantly. However, downloading and uploading became difficult since not all websites support resume downloading. Once a connection is lost while downloading a file, the whole process has to be reinitiated. Generally, due to instability, which might have been caused by the fact that most of the users use it, DL channel suffered most of the link outages. VI. PACKET LOSS The experiment was conducted to record the packet loss during different hours and on different location. More than 100 packets, in-groups of 4, were sent to www.rightclictz.com, and the number of unreturned packets was recorded. The test was done in two different scenarios, one sending them while downloading/uploading a file, and another while no file was being downloaded/uploaded. There was not any difference on packet loss for each scenario. However, the story was different when tested in different locations. The experience with HSDPA did not show any significant packet loss in suburban area, where an average of 1% loss during less-peak times up to 7% loss during high-peak times were experienced (fig. 9). This is due to the fact that there are fewer users in suburban areas. The situation was different in London, at different times as well.
Packet Loss
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Droped Pakets (%)
DL+RTT (ms) Lon DL+RTT (ms) Chelm RTT (ms) Lon RTT (ms) Chelm UL+RTT (ms) Lon UL+RTT (ms) Chelm

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

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Average RTTs

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DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL Lon Chelm Lon Chelm Lon Chelm Lon Chelm Lon Chelm

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ICMPs

Fig. 9 Packet Loss (DL) Chelmsford vs London Fig. 8 Chelmsford vs London Delay

The losses were from 2% during less-peak time Up to 25% loss during high-peak times. It can also be noted that DL

experiences more packet loss than UL. However, under normal usage, the effect was not felt greatly. For normal Internet uses like emailing, packet loss would not cause any major problems since undelivered packets will be retransmitted. The situation would be different if a user would be using real time applications like Internet calls or other applications like Personal navigations systems that rely on real time response [5].

downloading it. This might be due to the fact that many users are using the DL link rather than UL link, which leaves UL link less loaded. The throughput was also very much associated to the stability of the link, where, at high-peak periods, UL appears to be more stable than DL. However, the experience from a normal users point of view did not show such significant throughput problems. Surfing the Internet, however slower than wired networks, was smooth and with fair speed.

VII. BANDWIDTH AND THROUGHPUT To test the throughput, a 9.8 Mb test file was uploaded and downloaded to and from a server in the Internet, and the time taken was recorded. The test was also conducted at different times in different locations, in Chelmsford and London. HSDPA supports 5, 10 and 15 different codes with the objective of providing users with adoptive bandwidth allocation depending on their needs. This would give a theoretical throughput of up to 14Mbp/s (960Kbps per code) to users, assuming a user has been allocated with all 15 codes [3]. However this would only be achieved if there was a single user, sitting very close to the base station connected to an unloaded network. The test showed significant variations on throughput depending on the number of users at a time (fig 10). In this situation, the better throughput was experienced in Chelmsford, the suburban area with few users sharing the available bandwidth.
Throughput (File Size = 9.8MB)
24:00 20:00

VIII. COUNCLUSION It was a nice experience receiving a wireless broadband connection regardless of your location. The major challenge experienced is the effect of the number of users over the QoS. The number of users per cell causes fluctuations especially in the DL. This is much linked to the delay, which increases packet loss resulting in low throughput. However, delay, packet loss and link outages, are still in the tolerable level. The experience with T-Mobiles Webnwalk data card shows that the service is suitable for normal Internet uses like surfing the net and e-mailing. Downloading files is still a challenge for HSPDA, not only because of the actual throughput available, but also for the fact that the service is charged per usage. Having developed from mobile phone technologies, HSDPA have gone beyond the barriers and now offer amazing possibilities that compete with wired broadband technologies. With the arrival of coming HSPUA and LTE, UMTS technologies are expected to become a big challenger of other broadband technologies like WiMAX.

Time (min)

16:00 12:00 08:00 04:00 00:00


DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL Lon Chelm Lon Chelm Lon Chelm Lon Chelm Lon Chelm

REFERENCES
[1] NORTEL, HSDPA and Beyond, white paper, 2005, available at www.nortel.com/solutions/wireless/collateral/nn_110820.01-28-05.pdf, accessed April 2007. [2] Andersson, C. GRPS and 3G Wireless Applications, Willey, 2001, pg 158. [3] QUALCOMM, HSDPA for Improved Downlink Data Transfer, October 2004, available at: http://www.cdmatech.com/download_library/pdf/hsdpa_downlink_wp_1204.pdf, accessed April 2007. [4] JANET, available at: http://www.ukerna.ac.uk, accessed April 2007. [5] Z. Hunaiti, V. Garaj, W. Balachandran and F. Cecelja, Mobile Link Assessment for Visually Impaired Navigation System, Proceedings of the IEEE, Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, 2005(IMTC 2005), Volume 2, Ottawa Canada, 16-19 May 2005, p.883 887. [6] BT Broadband, http://www.bt.com/index.jsp [7] 3GPP, http://www.3gpp.org/specs/specs.htm

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Fig. 10 WebnWalk Throughput

As it would be expected, low-peak time delivered better throughput. The same applied when the test was conducted in London. Due to many users, the bandwidth allocated per user was highly compromised. T-Mobile Webnwalk data card supports a theoretical 1.8Mbps speed. However, the tests show that this could never be achieved at any scenario. Theoretically, DL is supposed to be faster than UL, but this was not always the case. At times during high-peak periods, uploading the same file took shorter time compared to

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