Using Network Activity Data to Model the Utilization of a Trunked Radio System

In this paper, we analyze the system utilization of a deployed radio communication network operated by a public safety agency. The network consists of a central site and a number of cells, each cell having a different capacity (number of available radio channels). The network is circuitswitched. Hence, the system utilization is a distribution of the number of concurrent calls in each cell vs. time. To determine the traffic load variations, we analyzed activity data from a sample week in 2002 and in 2003. We created an OPNET model based on the collected activity data and used the model to evaluate the utilization of system resources and to locate network bottlenecks. Our analysis may be used to address existing and future network congestion problems.