System performance evaluation of GERAN flexible layer one concept

The flexible layer one (FLO) concept for GERAN (GSM/EDGE radio access network) is part of the 3GPP release 6 standard. The advantage of FLO is that physical layer is configured at call setup, and thereby the link parameters can be optimized for the performance requirements of the service. This greatly improves service performance in GERAN and thus enables seamless continuity of new services across 3GPP radio access technologies. In this paper, we evaluate the network level gains of the GERAN FLO concept. Network capacity is evaluated using dynamic high-resolution system simulator. We assume a typical GSM/EDGE network with high traffic density and tight frequency plan. Network performance is evaluated for adaptive multi-rate speech, voice over IP, and real-time multimedia services. Simulation results show significant network capacity gain for the usage of FLO concept in GSM/EDGE networks.