Transport in IP-based UMTS radio access network: Analytical study and empirical validation

In this work, we study the transport of real-time voice traffic in the IP-based UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) where a stringent delay bound, some 5 ms, is to be met. Our work is analytical and is validated through empirical results on a local experimental test-bed emulating the UTRAN. It shows the trade-offs between performance, in terms of delay and cost, in terms of link utilization, and quantifies optimal values for the timer used in the packetization of Frame Protocol (FP) frames into larger IP packets as well as the number of FP frames per IP packet for a given output link capacity.