Capacity evaluation of EGPRS in a frequency hopping network

We investigate the network level performance of the Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (EGPRS) both from the quality and capacity point of view. The performance evaluation is based on a sophisticated dynamic burst-level network level simulator. The analysis is made in a frequency hopping macro cell network with different network configurations. The focus is on downlink performance since it is assumed that in most applications and scenarios the data flow is clearly asymmetrical in that direction. The key performance indicators considered in this paper are temporary block flow (TBF) throughput, logical link control (LLC) frame delay, spectrum efficiency (SE) and TBF blocking. The quality indicators (throughput, delay) are analyzed from both the average and percentile point of view. As these indicators are measured between the base station controller (BSC) and mobile station (MS), they are not end-to-end values. Those values depend heavily on issues like higher protocol layers (including the application level) and GPRS core network elements. These issues are out of the scope of this analysis. Ultimately, the whole analysis is focused on the characterization of data transport capabilities of the EGPRS BSS according to Release 99 specifications.