A Case Study of 5G gNodeB Throughput Analysis Using Practical KPIs

Enhanced mobile broadband is one of the three major operating scenarios of 5G, directly impacting the average mobile user. Therefore, capacity planning is crucial for providing excellent user experience. The 3GPP, in its TS 38.306 specification, established a theoretical model to estimate maximum throughput values. However, this equation presents challenges for real usage analysis because capacity is tracked in practice using key performance indicators (KPIs) that do not entirely correspond to the model’s input parameters. This paper presents a case study of real 5G gNodeB throughput, integrating practical KPIs within the 3GPP model framework. Various tests were conducted in different usage scenarios, comparing real measured throughput with predictions using a proposed hybrid version of the 3GPP model. A good correlation between predictions and measurements was observed regarding hourly throughput variation. Additionally, it was found that considering the actual use of the available bandwidth, rather than assuming all resource blocks are fully occupied at all times, applying a scale factor can improve the predictions, leading to a good convergence with the measurements.