sioning tool is developped in this thesis, containing all developed analytical models. This tool can perform dimensioning for various traffic scenarios, transport solutions, QoS mechanisms and network topologies for different UMTS radio access networks. Overall, the investigations and the analytical dimensioning models presented in this thesis can help network service providers to optimize their network infrastructure to reduce costs while still being able to provide the desired quality of service. Contents Abstract List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations XXIII Introduction Motivation Scope of UMTS Network Dimensioning Important Challenges for UMTS Network Dimensioning Contributions of this Thesis Thesis Overview UMTS Evolution Background of UMTS UMTS Network Architecture Evolution of UMTS 2.3.1 UMTS Release 99 2.3.2 High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) 2.3.3 High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) 2.3.4 Introduction of "All-IP" UMTS Networks 2.3.4.1 IP-Based UTRAN 2.3.4.2 Pseudo-Wire Emulation (PWE) Technology 2.3.5 LTE and SAE UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) UTRAN Architecture and Interfaces Generic Protocol Model for UTRAN Interfaces UMTS Release 99 3.3.1 UTRAN Protocol Stack 3.3.2 Channels in the UTRAN 3.3.3 lub Interface 3.3.3.1 Protocol Stack for the lub User Plane 3.3.3.2 3.3.3.3 AAL2 Protocol 3.3.3.4 Transport Requirements on the lub Interface 3.3.4 Resource Management 3.3.4.1 Radio Access Bearer (RAB) Contents 3.3.4.2 Radio Resource Management (RRM) 3.3.4.3 Transport Resource Management (TRM) IP-Based UTRAN 3.4.1 IP-Based UTRAN User Plane Protocol Architecture 3.4.2 QoS Support in the IP-Based UTRAN 3.4.2.1 Introduction of the DiffServ QoS Scheme 3.4.2.2 Mapping of UMTS QoS to DiffServ PHBs 3.4.2.3 DiffServ-Based QoS Architecture in IP-Based UTRAN Framework of UMTS Network Dimensioning Objectives of UMTS Network Dimensioning 4.1.1 Network Costs 4.1.2 Quality of Service 4.1.2.1 User-Relevant QoS 4.1.2.2 Network-Relevant QoS (Network Performance) Important Issues for UMTS Ne