Size an eNodeB: sector throughput, connected users, S1 transport requirement and RRC connection load.
An eNodeB's capacity is the sum of its cells, where a cell is one carrier on one sector. The transport link must carry that traffic plus GTP-U and IPsec encapsulation, while the RRC-connected count is a separate hardware limit that fills up long before the throughput does in dense or IoT-heavy areas. Sites fail in two different ways — out of megabits or out of RRC contexts — and only checking the first one leaves you troubleshooting connection rejections on a cell that looks half empty.
eNodeB Capacity
site throughput = sectors × carriers × per-carrier throughput; S1 = site throughput × (1 + transport overhead).
site throughput = sectors × carriers × per-carrier throughput; S1 = site throughput × (1 + transport overhead). An eNodeB's capacity is the sum of its cells, where a cell is one carrier on one sector. The transport link must carry that traffic plus GTP-U and IPsec encapsulation, while the RRC-connected count is a separate hardware limit that fills up long before the throughput does in dense or IoT-heavy areas.
Sites fail in two different ways — out of megabits or out of RRC contexts — and only checking the first one leaves you troubleshooting connection rejections on a cell that looks half empty.
This calculator takes 6 inputs: Sectors, Carriers per sector, Throughput per carrier, RRC-connected users per cell, Simultaneously active share of connected users, S1 transport overhead (GTP-U, IPsec). The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.