Improvements Within APZ

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1 Improvements Within APZ Chapter 3 This chapter is designed to provide the student with knowledge about the main changes within the APZ system. The chapter describes important improvements within all different areas of APZ, not only the Central Processor. OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this chapter the student will be able to: account for improvements in capacity in APZ account for improvements in capacity and footprint for all types of regional processors such as RPP, RPG, EMRP and RP account for improvements in the APG40.

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3 3 Improvements Within APZ 3 Improvements Within APZ Table of Contents Topic Page CENTRAL PROCESSORS, CP...1 CAPACITY...1 HARDWARE...1 NEW HARDWARE...4 OTHER NEWS AND IMPROVEMENTS...4 COMPATIBILITY...5 REGIONAL PROCESSOR, RP...6 RPP, PCI BUS BASED REGIONAL PROCESSOR...7 THE BASIC CONFIGURATION...7 THE MODEM CONFIGURATION...8 THE PMC CONFIGURATION...8 THE EPSB, ETHERNET PACKET SWITCH BOARD...9 APPLICATIONS...9 RPG...11 EMRP...12 APG SYSTEM CAPABILITIES...13 THE HARDWARE...14 EN/LZT R1A i

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5 3 Improvements Within APZ CENTRAL PROCESSORS, CP CAPACITY The main improvement within the CP area is a new Central Processor referred to as APZ It is basically the same hardware as APZ but with some improvements. Increased clock speed and the removal of some internal bottlenecks are the two main reasons for the improved capacity. The capacity increase from APZ to is some 70% and the first field trials of the system will be during end of year A completely new central processor is being developed at the same time. The name will be APZ (not part of AXE 810) and it will be the first CP from Ericsson built with a commercial micro processor. By using a commercial CPU, the hardware development of external CPUs can be followed and Ericsson does not need to keep up with this pace (doubled capacity every 18 month as in Moore s law). The price for the processor can also be reduced with this solution. The capacity comparison between all available processors can be seen in the figure below. Please note that the capacity comparison is only valid within this figure and cannot be used to compare, for example, a CP with an RP Relative Capacity DS Memory (M word) Power (W) Number in Service Figure 3-1 Capacity of different APZ versions HARDWARE The hardware of APZ is on high level exactly the same as the hardware in APZ The figure below gives an overview of the cabinet. EN/LZT R1A 1

6 AXE 810 Delta Front View Side View FAN FAN FAN FAN FAN CPU-A CPU-A FAN FAN FAN FAN FAN CPU-B CPU-B 1800 mm FAN FAN FAN FAN FAN RPH-A RPH-A RPH-B 600 mm 800 mm Figure 3-2 The APZ cabinet The CPU Subrack On a subrack level, the hardware of the CPU Subrack looks like in the figure below. MAU STUDI-0 STUDI-1 STUDI-2 STUDI-3 IPU STUDI-4 STUDI-5 STUDI-6 STUDI-7 SPU POWC (MAI) POU Figure 3-3 The CPU Subrack There are basically three processor boards: Instruction Processor Unit (IPU) Signal Processor Unit (SPU) Power Control Unit (POWC) including the Maintenance Interface (MAI) There is one power unit (POU) in each subrack. The MAU, Maintenance Unit, is only present in the B-side (CP-B) as there is one MAU per CP pair. The eight slots for Data Store boards (STUD, Storage Unit Data) can either be of DRAM or SRAM type. In both APZ and in there are three different types of boards that can be used: 2 EN/LZT R1A

7 3 Improvements Within APZ The RPH Subrack SRAM with 32 MW 16 bit (fast) DRAM with 512 MW 16 bit (slower) SDRAM with 1025 MW 16 bit (slower) Note that it is not possible to mix DRAM and SDRAM in the same CPU subrack. Further, the maximum number of SDRAM boards is 4, since the IPU addressing system only handles up to 4 GW 16. However, the hardware can have some SRAM boards for increased speed. In APZ , there is an extended IPU cache memory of 8 MW 16 bit so the usage of SRAM only increases the capacity with a few percent. On the IPU board, a data cash memory has been implemented, called L2CD, with the size of 8 MW 16. The empty slot in the right part of the subrack is reserved for a BRU board (Bus Recording Unit) which can be used to find complicated hardware faults in the CP. The boards inside the RPH subrack can be seen in the figure below. RPIO RPBI-P 0 / RPBI-S 0 RPBI-P 1 / RPBI-S 1 RPBI-P 2 / RPBI-S 2 RPBI-P 3 / RPBI-S 3 RPBI-P 4 / RPBI-S 4 RPBI-P 5 / RPBI-S 5 RPBI-P 6 / RPBI-S 6 RPBI-P 7 / RPBI-S 7 RPBI-P 8 RPBI-P 9 RPBI-P 10 RPBI-P 11 RPBI-P 12 RPBI-P 13 RPBI-P 14 RPBI-P 15 POU-R Figure 3-4 The RPH Subrack The board to the left in the subrack is the RPH interface board (RPIO). Inside the RPH, there is a possibility to mix between parallel and serial RP bus. The parallel bus is used in BYB 202 and is a slower bus. The following alternatives are available: Up to 16 RPBI-P boards for connection of 2 parallel RP busses to each board (totally 32 RP bus branches with 32 RPs on each branch). Up to 8 RPBI-S boards for connection of 4 serial busses to each board (totally 32 bus branches with 32 RPs on each branch). EN/LZT R1A 3

8 AXE 810 Delta Mixture of boards for serial or parallel RP busses but the total number of bus branches cannot exceed 32 (1024 RPs) NEW HARDWARE To upgrade form APZ to the new APZ , only the two boards IPU and POWC have to be changed. OTHER NEWS AND IMPROVEMENTS The hardware of APZ is prepared for a new high-speed data bus that will be used in the future for various functions. The bus is referred to as IPN, Inter-Platform Network, and it is a high-speed Ethernet operating at 100 Mbit/s in the first releases and then 1 Gbit/s. The system is duplicated for reliability reasons. The IPN will be available when the new software APZ 11.0 is released (more about APZ 11 in Chapter 5). The IPN will be used for: Communication between the CP and the APG. For example, the high-speed bus makes reload faster. This will be the first use of IPN available already in APZ. Communication between AXE and AXD 301 as part of ENGINE (hybrid system) The figure below shows the main principle of the IPN. Please note that the hardware in the figure shows some examples of usage of IPN. APZ APG APG AXD 301 IPN 100 Mbit/s Ethernet Figure 3-5 The IPN, Inter-Platform Network The APZ needs, as already mentioned, new software for supporting the IPN. It also needs new hardware: 4 EN/LZT R1A

9 3 Improvements Within APZ COMPATIBILITY One position in the RPH subrack (next to the POU-R board) is equipped with the IPN Ethernet switch (IPNX). This is an 8 port 100BaseT Ethernet Switch used for interconnecting all IPN equipment. An empty slot in the RPH subrack is equipped with the IPN Interface Board (IPNA). The SPU, IPU and the MAU board also needs hardware upgrades. The APZ and the new APZ are compatible with each other in many different respects: The same Data Store boards (STU) can be used. The CP is compatible on binary code level meaning that the same load file can be used on both machines. Notice that some additional blocks for the L2CD are needed. The same operator interface is used meaning no additional training. (Only three new commands are existing: LADCC, LADCP & LADCL). EN/LZT R1A 5

10 AXE 810 Delta REGIONAL PROCESSOR, RP There will be a completely new Regional Processor available for the new GEM based boards (GS, ET155, ECP and TRA boards). This processor will be integrated on the board and the name will for that reason be RPI, Regional Processor Integrated. Device board RP4 Device Device RP4 RPI Figure 3-6 Integration of RP The processor will be more powerful and decrease manufacturing costs for Ericsson (which can result in a lower price to our customers). The table below compares the old RP4 with the new RPI. RP4 RPI Relative Capacity 1 16 Processor Ericsson, 5 MHz PowerPC, 80 MHz Device bus EM-bus Board internal Operating System Ericsson OSE Delta Figure 3-7 The new RPI compared with the older RP4 The new RPI will only be used in the GEM subrack which means that the GDM subracks, holding ET devices and RPG, will still use the old RP4 for some communication between the CP and the devices. There are no changes in RP capacity for the RP4 in the GDM subracks. 6 EN/LZT R1A

11 3 Improvements Within APZ RPP, PCI BUS BASED REGIONAL PROCESSOR THE BASIC CONFIGURATION The RPP is a new type of regional processor that opens up AXE for new types of data communication possibilities. This will be particularly important when migrating from existing 2:nd generation mobile networks (e.g. GSM) to 2.5 generation mobile networks based upon GPRS and EDGE. A general demand for more powerful processors is also a reason for developing the new RPP platform. The RPP has existed some time in the GDM hardware of BYB 501 but is now part of AXE 810. PCI, which stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, is an interconnect system between a micro processor and attached devices in expansion slots. By using PCI, a computer can connect both the new PCI cards and at the same time support ISA cards (Industry Standard Architecture). The RPP is based upon a 333 MHz PowerPC and a number of DSPs (digital signalling processors) which will be used for bit/byte stream oriented protocols such as modems, echo cancellation, speech coding and similar protocols/functions. There are basically three different configurations of RPPs which will be used by different applications: a basic configuration a modem configuration a PMC configuration (PCI Mezzanine Card) A basic RPP configuration include 8 x DSP as well as 2 x DL2 interfaces of 2 Mbit/s via the back plane. This configuration needs two slots in the GDM-H subrack. If the Ethernet switch is used (EPSB), the GDDM-H subrack is needed and in that case it need 60 mm of space in the subrack. The figure below shows the main parts of an RPP. EN/LZT R1A 7

12 AXE 810 Delta I/O Board 1 8 x DSP (66 MIPS) 8 DL2 (2 Mbit/s) 2 x 100 Base-TX RP Bus (RPB-S) M-Bus PCI bus 2 Mbit/s CPU Board Micro Processor 333 MHz DL2 (2 Mbit/s) Figure 3-8 The basic configuration of the RPP THE MODEM CONFIGURATION This configuration has 32 x DSP and 3 x DL2 interfaces. Each DSP can process 66 MIPS making it suitable for modem traffic or protocol conversions. The protocol implemented determines the number of MIPS needed and in that way the number of potential users per RPP. Please study the figure below. CPU Board PCI bus 2 Mbit/s DSP Board 8 x DSP (66 MIPS) x DSP (66 MIPS) x DSP (66 MIPS) x DSP (66 MIPS) DL2 (2 Mbit/s) DL2 (2 Mbit/s) DL2 (2 Mbit/s) THE PMC CONFIGURATION Figure 3-9 The modem configuration of the RPP This configuration is used when a standard PCI card should be included. The configuration includes a PMC carrier board which can host externally sourced PMC cards. This configuration needs 80 mm of space in the GDM-H subrack. 8 EN/LZT R1A

13 3 Improvements Within APZ THE EPSB, ETHERNET PACKET SWITCH BOARD The EPSB is a non-blocking Ethernet switch which can be used to create a local data network between RPPs. EPSB is both selflearning and unmanaged. The core of the board is the switch and the interfaces as can be seen in the figure below. Front EPSB Board Back 2 x 100Base-TX (100 Mbit/s Ethernet) 13 x 10Base-T (10 Mbit/s Ethernet) 1 x 100Base-TX (100 Mbit/s Ethernet) Figure 3-10 The Ethernet Packet Switch Board The EPSB can be used to create a high-speed communication path between the RPPs within the same exchange. By having that possibility, almost any type of local network can be created. The figure below shows an example. DL2 Ethernet ETC GS RPP EPSB RPP RPP EPSB RPP CP Figure 3-11 Example of usage of the EPSB boards and internal Ethernet connections between them APPLICATIONS The RPP will be used for applications where high processing power is needed or where protocol conversion is needed: EN/LZT R1A 9

14 AXE 810 Delta GPRS Packet Control Unit (PCU) This unit is located in the Base Station Controller and handles the packet data to and from the mobile subscribers. IWF functions within GSM and TDMA The Inter-working Function is a protocol converter. A special mobile data protocol is terminated in the IWF which is located in the MSC. High-Speed Link Signalling Terminal In some applications, there is a need for a signalling link with a bit rate of Mbit/s. One such signalling link is handled by one RPP. 10 EN/LZT R1A

A new RPG, consequently referred to as RPG3, will be released as part of AXE 810.

15 3 Improvements Within APZ RPG The RPG (Regional Processor with Group Switch Interface) is today used in a many different applications. The main application area is for signalling protocol handling such as SS7, V5 and V3 signalling. The current version of RPG is referred to as RPG2. A new RPG, consequently referred to as RPG3, will be released as part of AXE 810. The main characteristics of RPG are: 3 times as powerful as RPG2 half the size same power consumption The heart of the RPG is a 200 MHz PowerPC and 32 Mbytes of memory. The RPG3 also has 8 Mbytes of Flash memory for preload of software as well as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). A picture of the new RPG3 can be seen below. Figure 3-12 RPG3 Ethernet connections from the PRG3 board will not be used initially but are used to prepare the hardware for clustering of RPGs. Internal communication between the RPGs in the cluster will be possible. The capacity of RPG3 makes it possible to connect 4 x 64 kbit/s SS7 signalling links to every RPG3 for all traffic mixes. In case of mobile applications, the Transceiver Handler is based upon the RPG platform. The RPG3 will be able to handle 32 transceivers instead of 24 with RPG2. The RPG3 requires APZ Both RPG2 and RPG3 may be used within the same magazine. However, it is not possible to use a RPG3 as a spar part for RPG2. EN/LZT R1A 11

16 AXE 810 Delta EMRP The EMRP is mainly used in the subscriber switch of AXE and in older types of radio base stations. Lately, a new access product was released: the ENGINE Access Ramp. This product contains a new EMRP referred to as EMRPI which is 16 times more powerful than the EMRP4. The EMRPI is based upon a PowerPC running at 50 MHz with a 16 Mbytes memory. 12 EN/LZT R1A

17 3 Improvements Within APZ APG40 SYSTEM CAPABILITIES APG40 is the name of the new I/O system in AXE. It will replace not only the existing IOG20 but also the AP platform (Adjunct Processor). It will also be the platform for the element manager. The main driver behind the development of a new I/O platform is increased capacity demands and standardisation of operating system and hardware. The latter giving access to standard software and functions developed by 3:rd party suppliers and system integrators. The main building blocks of APG40 are: New microprocessors based upon Intel processors. The first release will be based upon a 333 MHz processor while second generation will have a processor with 500 MHz. New operating system based upon Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition. This simplifies design of software and sourced software can easily be integrated. High availability with disk mirroring. Clustering of nodes for increased capacity and availability. One way to study the new APG40 is to compare it with its predecessors IOG11, IOG20 and APG30. Please study the table below. IOG11 IOG20 (B,C) APG30/33 APG40 Throughput, kbyte/s / CP Reload kbytes/s > with IPN HD Capacity, Gbyte External Ethernet - 10 Mbit/s 100 Mbit/s 100 Mbit/s TCP/IP - (Yes) Yes Yes Portable Media (OD) 2 x 325 Mb 1.3 Gb - - Portable Media (DAT) Gb 24 Gb Figure 3-13 System Capabilities EN/LZT R1A 13

Initially, the processor will be running at 333 MHz with an upgrade to 500 MHz with a later release.

18 AXE 810 Delta THE HARDWARE The hardware is as already mentioned based upon Intel standard processors. This will reduce manufacturing costs and it is possible to follow Moore's Law by simply upgrading the hardware. Initially, the processor will be running at 333 MHz with an upgrade to 500 MHz with a later release. The APG40 is prepared for the IPN, Inter-Platform Network, which will connect the APG40 with the CP via a high-speed Ethernet connection. This will sped-up reload and dumping considerably. For example, the total throughput for reload will be about 10 times higher when IPN is available. The photo below shows the hardware of APG40. Figure 3-14 APG 40 Hardware 14 EN/LZT R1A

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Background Chapter 1 OBJECTIVES:

Background Chapter 1 OBJECTIVES: Background Chapter 1 This chapter is designed to provide the student with a general knowledge about the AXE market as well as the main components in AXE 810. It will also show the benefits of the modernisation