GPRS radio network capacity and quality of service using fixed and on-demand channel allocation techniques

The radio network capacity needed for the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) in coexistence with circuit switched services and the admissible quality of service for mobile Internet users is presented. Since the GPRS is to be integrated into the GSM infrastructure, a number of physical channels has to be made available to GPRS used as fixed and on-demand packet data channels (PDCH). A simulation environment for a GPRS network and its entities for an on-demand channel allocation mechanism are introduced. The simulation results comprise performance measures for the quality of service from the user's point of view and the channel utilisation for a range of load situations in order to fix the needed radio capacity regarding cell configurations with up to 8 dedicated and on-demand PDCH.