Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Issue 02
Date 2016-11-01
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Contents
2 Overview......................................................................................................................................... 4
3 Technical Description...................................................................................................................5
4 Related Features.............................................................................................................................7
5 Network Impact............................................................................................................................. 8
6 Engineering Guidelines............................................................................................................... 9
6.1 When to Use................................................................................................................................................................... 9
6.2 Required Information..................................................................................................................................................... 9
6.3 Planning........................................................................................................................................................................ 10
6.4 Deployment.................................................................................................................................................................. 10
6.4.1 Requirements............................................................................................................................................................. 10
6.4.2 Data Preparation and Feature Activation...................................................................................................................11
6.4.2.1 Data Preparation..................................................................................................................................................... 11
6.4.2.2 Activation................................................................................................................................................................11
6.4.3 Activation Observation..............................................................................................................................................12
6.4.4 Reconfiguration......................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.4.5 Deactivation...............................................................................................................................................................13
6.5 Performance Monitoring...............................................................................................................................................13
6.6 Parameter Optimization................................................................................................................................................ 14
6.7 Possible Issues.............................................................................................................................................................. 14
7 Parameters..................................................................................................................................... 16
8 Counters........................................................................................................................................ 18
9 Glossary......................................................................................................................................... 23
10 Reference Documents............................................................................................................... 24
1.1 Scope
This document describes LOFD-001027 Active Queue Management (AQM), including its
technical principles, related features, network impact, and engineering guidelines.
This document applies to the following types of eNodeBs.
Micro BTS3202E
BTS3911E
BTS3912E
Any parameters, alarms, counters, or managed objects (MOs) described herein apply only to
the corresponding software release. For future software releases, refer to the corresponding
updated product documentation.
This document applies only to LTE FDD. Any "LTE" in this document refers to LTE FDD,
and "eNodeB" refers to LTE FDD eNodeB.
l Feature change
Changes in features and parameters of a specified version as well as the affected entities
l Editorial change
Changes in wording or addition of information and any related parameters affected by
editorial changes. Editorial change does not specify the affected entities.
eRAN11.1 02 (2016-11-01)
This issue includes the following changes.
eRAN11.1 01 (2016-03-07)
This issue includes the following changes.
2 Overview
A radio link has a lower bandwidth than a wired link and the bandwidth of the radio link
fluctuates greatly. In the downlink hybrid service scenario where a bearer contains data of
multiple TCP services, some relatively prevailing data usually exists. The data occupies air
interface resources for a long time, resulting in resource insufficiency. As a result, a large
amount of data buffer exists on the eNodeB, causing air interface congestion. Therefore,
AQM, which actively controls the queue length, is introduced to prevent congestion.
When air interface resources are insufficient, AQM estimates the length of the packet queue
of bearer services and adaptively drops Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) packets in case
of congestion. Congestion control at the sender is triggered in advance to prevent congestion
deterioration.
AQM offers the following benefits:
l Proactively detects possible congestion in the queue and minimizes the congestion
probability by dropping packets.
l Maintains a shorter queue to balance the throughput and transmission delay.
l Avoids TCP global synchronization caused by simultaneous data overflow of multiple
queues.
NOTE
Packets are often sent out at irregular intervals. When they arrive at a desired queue, the packets are
received at irregular intervals. When the queue becomes full, or is getting close to becoming full, a large
number of packets are dropped.
Upon packet loss detection, multiple TCP senders adaptively and sharply decrease their transmission
rates. Consequently, the packet arrival rate declines quickly and the network congestion is relieved.
After detecting that the network is not congested, the TCP senders start to increase transmission rates,
which again results in network congestion. In the procedure, each sender decreases and increases
transmission rates at the same time as other senders.
The phenomenon is referred to as TCP global synchronization.
AQM provided by Huawei applies to non-guaranteed bit rate (non-GBR) services. AQM is
controlled by the CellAlgoSwitch.AqmAlgoSwitch parameter. For details about the
configuration, see 6 Engineering Guidelines.
3 Technical Description
Due to the limitation of resource capacity and processing capability of networks, congestion
can become a bottleneck in network development. End-to-end TCP congestion control
technologies have been the primary methods used to control IP network congestion. However,
edge nodes in a network may not be able to obtain accurate information about network status
in time. Therefore, it is hard for these TCP congestion control technologies to solve all
congestion problems in the network. To resolve this issue, congestion control technologies
based on intermediate network nodes such as AQM, have been developed.
As an IP network node, the eNodeB uses AQM to check packet queues of bearer services. If
AQM detects that the queue length (measured in packets) exceeds a specified threshold, it
drops packets selectively. As a result, the amount of data is reduced, the congestion is
mitigated, the delay of interactive services is reduced, and fair scheduling among services is
improved.
The AQM working areas are normal, congestion avoidance, and congestion control areas,
which are separated by minimum and maximum congestion thresholds, as shown in Figure
3-1, where the red lines denote the packet loss rate and Max represents the maximum packet
loss rate of a non-GBR service in the congestion avoidance area.
AQM calculates the average queue length and compares it with the minimum and maximum
congestion thresholds. It then performs different operations under each of the following
conditions:
l Average queue length Minimum congestion threshold (normal area)
AQM does not drop any packets because the queue is not congested.
l Minimum congestion threshold < Average queue length < Maximum congestion
threshold (congestion avoidance area)
AQM drops some packets because the queue is congested to some extent. The
probability of dropping packets increases linearly with:
The average queue length.
The amount of data successfully sent to the eNodeB.
l Average queue length Maximum congestion threshold (congestion control area)
AQM drops every newly arrived packet because the queue is severely congested.
The minimum congestion threshold is automatically calculated by the eNodeB based on the
real-time data rate over the air interface. The maximum congestion threshold is the minimum
congestion threshold multiplied by eight.
4 Related Features
Prerequisite Features
None
Impacted Features
None
5 Network Impact
System Capacity
When AQM is enabled, the processing delay of downlink packets carried by non-GBR
services decreases and therefore, the delay of delay-sensitive services (such as web browsing
and small file downloading) also decreases. The processing delay can be monitored by
dividing L.Traffic.DL.PktDelay.Time.QCI.x by L.Traffic.DL.PktDelay.Num.QCI.x, where x
indicates the QoS class identifier (QCI) of a non-GBR service. In addition, the throughput is
affected, for example, the cell throughput and the throughput of some UEs fluctuate, and the
throughput for non-GBR services decreases. If GBR and non-GBR services coexist in a cell
and the actual GBR service rate is less than the subscribed GBR service rate, the decrease in
the throughput for non-GBR services possibly brings more scheduling opportunities to GBR
services, thereby increasing the throughput for GBR services.
Network Performance
When AQM is enabled, the UE throughput and cell throughput fluctuate as follows:
l If a cell has both cell edge users (CEUs) and cell center users (CCUs), AQM will
decrease the throughput of CEUs because CEU services are easily congested.
Alternatively, CCU services are rarely congested, and therefore AQM will increase the
throughput of CCUs. This increased throughput is larger than the decreased throughput
for CEUs. In this case, the overall cell throughput increases.
l If a cell has only CEUs, the cell throughput will decrease because AQM decreases the
throughput of CEUs.
l If a cell has only CCUs, AQM has little impact on cell throughput.
6 Engineering Guidelines
l The packet loss rate in specific cells is abnormally high and user experience in
interactive services deteriorates due to a large amount of downlink data. If they are
caused by another reason, enabling AQM possibly causes further deterioration of the
quality of service (QoS).
l Multiple TCP-based bit torrent (BT) services are running or large files are being
downloaded on the network while users are using many interactive services.
In the following scenarios, AQM brings no gains or could even have slightly negative effects:
l When both TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) services are on a bearer, AQM
drops TCP packets and thereby reduces only TCP traffic.
l Service packets are randomly dropped by AQM during network congestion. If AQM
drops packets of interactive services, user experience in these services deteriorates.
l The data rate of CEUs fluctuates due to interference. In this scenario, the eNodeB does
not enter the congestion state and AQM brings fewer gains.
l Dropping packets can cause throughput fluctuation, especially when there are only a
small number (for example, one or two) of TCP connections.
l When the downlink UE throughput on a bearer exceeds 30 Mbit/s, non-GBR services are
not congested. In this scenario, AQM brings fewer gains.
6.3 Planning
None
6.4 Deployment
6.4.1 Requirements
The operator has purchased and activated the license for the feature listed in the following
table.
Required Data
The following table describes the parameters that must be set in the CellAlgoSwitch MO to
configure the AQM algorithm switch for a cell.
Local cell ID CellAlgoSwitch.Lo Set the local cell ID based Radio planning
calCellId on the network plan. (Internal planning)
Scenario-specific Data
None
6.4.2.2 Activation
l The downlink throughput of the operator's computer is lower than 10 Mbit/s. The
downlink throughput can be controlled by decreasing the bandwidth of a cell or by
increasing the number of UEs in the cell.
l The operator's computer normally accesses the network, connects to the download
server, and runs FTP download services.
l Multiple large files that are larger than 1 GB and multiple small files are available on the
server for downloading.
NOTE
Whether a file is a small file depends on the downlink throughput of the operator's computer. If the
time for downloading a file while downloading one or multiple large files is within 10s, the file is
a small file.
Step 1 Run the MOD CELLALGOSWITCH command with the AqmAlgoSwitch option of the
AQM algorithm switch parameter deselected. Then, enable the computer to reaccess the
network.
Step 2 Download one or more large files and a small file simultaneously. Then, record the small file
download latency. Repeat the test and average the recorded values. The average value works
as the small file download latency with AQM disabled.
Step 3 Run the MOD CELLALGOSWITCH command with the AqmAlgoSwitch option of the
AQM algorithm switch parameter selected. Then, enable the computer to access the
network.
Step 4 Download one or more large files and a small file simultaneously. Then, record the small file
download latency. Repeat the test and average the recorded values. The average value works
as the small file download latency with AQM enabled.
Step 5 Compare the two average values and verify that the small file download latency is shortened
after AQM is enabled.
----End
6.4.4 Reconfiguration
None
6.4.5 Deactivation
The following table provides the parameter used to deactivate this feature.
After AQM is enabled, the average processing delay of downlink PDCP SDUs for services
carried on DRBs possibly decreases slightly and the number of downlink PDCP SDUs
discarded for services carried on DRBs possibly increases slightly.
NOTE
The average processing delay of downlink PDCP SDUs for services carried on DRBs can be monitored
by dividing L.Traffic.DL.PktDelay.Time.QCI.x by L.Traffic.DL.PktDelay.Num.QCI.x, where x indicates
a QoS class identifier (QCI).
Fault Handling
Step 1 Run the LST CELLALGOSWITCH command to check that the AQM algorithm switch has
been turned on.
Step 2 Download one or more large files, and perform ping operations simultaneously. Maintain the
operation for at least 2 minutes, and monitor any ping delay changes. If the delay is shorter
than 500 ms, add TCP threads by downloading more large files. When the delay reaches 500
ms, start to download a small file. If the result still indicates no gains, contact Huawei
technical support.
NOTE
When the delay reaches 500 ms, AQM drops some packets. You can perform ping operations to check
whether AQM brings gains. If AQM brings gains, the end-to-end ping delay is reduced to 500 ms
regardless of the number of TCP threads (delay caused by the EPC is not considered).
----End
7 Parameters
CellAlg AqmAlg MOD LOFD-0 Active Meaning: Indicates the switch that is used to enable
oSwitch oSwitch CELLA 01027 / Queue and disable the Active Queue Management (AQM)
LGOSW TDLOF Manage algorithm. If this switch is set to ON, the AQM
ITCH D-00102 ment function is enabled to prevent or control congestion.
LST 7 (AQM) The length of the PDCP packet queue is maintained at
CELLA a relatively small value to help achieve an appropriate
LGOSW trade-off between throughput and time latency. If this
ITCH switch is set to OFF, the AQM function is disabled.
GUI Value Range: AqmAlgoSwitch
Unit: None
Actual Value Range: AqmAlgoSwitch
Default Value: AqmAlgoSwitch:Off
CellAlg LocalCe DSP None None Meaning: Indicates the local ID of the cell. It uniquely
oSwitch llId CELLU identifies a cell within a BS.
LCAMC GUI Value Range: 0~255
CLUST
ER Unit: None
8 Counters
9 Glossary
10 Reference Documents
None