Traffic analysis of existing traffic in Kulyab region in order to plan and configure a new GSM MSC for this region

Abstract: Wide area cellular mobile networks have rapidly evolved over the years. In the beginning achieving wide area coverage was a great achievement – enabling subscribers to call from wherever they were currently located and whenever they wanted. Additionally these systems supported mobility of subscribers, so that calls could continue even while a subscriber moved from one cell to another. Today mobility management is something everyone takes for granted. New functionality is continuously being developed for these networks. An important aspect of this evolution has been to enable new applications and technologies to be introduced while maintaining interoperability with the existing technologies. These mobile networks use new technologies and enable new applications, but they interconnect with existing networks that utilize earlier technologies, such as the existing fixed telephone network. These interconnections enable communication between subscribers connected via all of these networks. In today’s mobile networks there are a variety of technologies working side by side, for example 2G, GPRS, 3G, and so on. The earlier networks used circuit switching technology, but the trend in later networks was to transition exclusively to packet switching. One of the most important network entities is the mobile switch center (MSC). In the earlier circuit switched networks the MSC is the heart of the circuit switching network. The MSC is responsible for management, control, and communication to and from the mobile stations (MSs) in the area managed by the MSC. The MSC stores information about each of the MSs in one or more databases. In the subscriber’s home network the information about their subscription is stored in a home location register (HLR), while when this subscriber is in another network information is stored in a visitor location register (VLR). The MSC together with other elements of the core network handles mobility management, enabling both handover and roaming. A gateway MSC enables MSs to communicate with phones connected to the fixed network. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the traffic situation for Kulyab region in order to configure and install the MSC in Kulyab. For the time being there is no radio network controller (RNC) in Kulyab region, so the MSC in Kulyab will be configured to support 2G traffic. The configuration will be based on the expected mobile traffic load in the Kulyab region, thus the first steps in the process were to collect and analyze data about the existing traffic in this region that is currently served by a MSC located outside of this region. The configuration of the new MSC will be based on this analysis. After installing and configuring the new MSC some question need to be answered, namely: Can the MSC in Kulyab support all the base stations in Kulyab region? If not, how many base stations can it support? To what extent does the addition of this new MSC improve the overall network in terms of increased reliability, capacity, and throughput? How much will the capacity of the existing MSC, that is responsible for traffic outside Dushanbe, be increased due to the introduction of the new MSC?