Traffic mix

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Traffic mix is a traffic model in telecommunication engineering and teletraffic theory.

A traffic model is a mathematical model of real-world traffic, usually, but not restricted to, road traffic. Traffic modeling draws heavily on theoretical foundations like network theory and certain theories from physics like the kinematic wave model. The interesting quantity being modeled and measured is the traffic flow, i.e. the throughput of mobile units per time and transportation medium capacity. Models can teach researchers and engineers how to ensure an optimal flow with a minimum number of traffic jams.

Telecommunications traffic engineering, teletraffic engineering, or traffic engineering is the application of traffic engineering theory to telecommunications. Teletraffic engineers use their knowledge of statistics including queuing theory, the nature of traffic, their practical models, their measurements and simulations to make predictions and to plan telecommunication networks such as a telephone network or the Internet. These tools and knowledge help provide reliable service at lower cost.

Contents

Definitions

A traffic mix is a modelisation of user behaviour. In telecommunications, user behaviour activities may be described by a number of systems, ranging from simple to complex. For example, for plain old telephone service (POTS), a sequence of connection requests to an exchange can be modelled by fitting negative exponential distributions to the average time between requests and the average duration of a connection. This in turn can be used to work out the utilisation of the line for the purposes of network planning and dimensioning.

Plain old telephone service (POTS), or plain ordinary telephone service, is a retronym for voice-grade telephone service employing analog signal transmission over copper loops. POTS was the standard service offering from telephone companies from 1876 until 1988 in the United States when the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Basic Rate Interface (BRI) was introduced, followed by cellular telephone systems, and voice over IP (VoIP). POTS remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world. The term reflects the technology that has been available since the introduction of the public telephone system in the late 19th century, in a form mostly unchanged despite the introduction of Touch-Tone dialing, electronic telephone exchanges and fiber-optic communication into the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Objectives

Traffic mix has two goals:

Both these functions are extremely important to network operators. If insufficient capability is deployed at a node (for example, if a backbone router has 1 gigabit/sec of switching capacity and more than this is offered) then the risk of equipment failure increases, and customers experience poor service. However, if the network is overprovisioned the cost in equipment can be high. Most providers therefore seek to maximise the effect of their spending by maintaining an unused overhead capacity for growth, and expanding key nodes to relieve problem areas. Identification of these areas is accomplished by network dimensioning.

Traffic mix type

Telephony traffic mix

Mobile telephony traffic mix

Internet traffic mix

In general terms, throughput is the maximum rate of production or the maximum rate at which something can be processed.

See also

Agner Krarup Erlang Danish mathematician

Agner Krarup Erlang was a Danish mathematician, statistician and engineer, who invented the fields of traffic engineering and queueing theory.

Call centre centralised office used for the purpose of receiving or transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone

A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. An inbound call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information enquiries from consumers. Outbound call centres are operated for telemarketing, solicitation of charitable or political donations, debt collection and market research. A contact centre is a location for centralised handling of individual communications, including letters, faxes, live support software, social media, instant message, and e-mail.

Erlang distribution

The Erlang distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions with support . The two parameters are:


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