gNodeB Capacity Calculator
Size a 5G gNodeB across its cells: air-interface capacity, N3 midhaul transport and supported connected devices.
About gNodeB Capacity Calculator
A 5G site aggregates several cells across bands and sectors, and its transport link only needs to carry the busy-hour offered load rather than the theoretical sum of every cell's peak. GTP-U encapsulation and IPsec then add a fixed percentage on top. Midhaul and backhaul upgrades have long lead times and civil-works costs, so the N3 figure — not the air-interface peak — is what belongs in the transport order.
Formula
gNodeB Capacity
site capacity = cells × per-cell capacity; N3 transport = site capacity × planned load × (1 + encapsulation overhead).
- planned load
- Busy-hour utilisation the design targets
- N3
- gNodeB-to-UPF user-plane interface
Worked example
With the default values below, gNodeB Capacity Calculator returns Site Air-Interface Capacity of 5.40. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Cells on the siteaccepts 1–48 cells
- 6 cells
- Usable capacity per cellaccepts 10–20,000 Mbps
- 900 Mbps
- Planned busy-hour loadaccepts 1–100 %
- 65 %
- RRC-connected devices per cellaccepts 10–20,000 devices
- 1,200 devices
- N3 encapsulation and security overheadaccepts 0–60 %
- 18 %
Results
- Site Air-Interface Capacity
- 5.40 Gbps
- Busy-Hour Offered Load
- 3.51 Gbps
- N3 Transport Required
- 4.14 Gbps
- Connected Devices Supported
- 7,200
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2gNodeB Capacity
- 3Site Air-Interface Capacity= 5.40 Gbps
- 4Busy-Hour Offered Load= 3.51 Gbps
- 5N3 Transport Required= 4.14 Gbps
- 6Connected Devices Supported= 7,200
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is gNodeB Capacity calculated?
site capacity = cells × per-cell capacity; N3 transport = site capacity × planned load × (1 + encapsulation overhead). A 5G site aggregates several cells across bands and sectors, and its transport link only needs to carry the busy-hour offered load rather than the theoretical sum of every cell's peak. GTP-U encapsulation and IPsec then add a fixed percentage on top.
Why does gNodeB Capacity matter?
Midhaul and backhaul upgrades have long lead times and civil-works costs, so the N3 figure — not the air-interface peak — is what belongs in the transport order.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 5 inputs: Cells on the site, Usable capacity per cell, Planned busy-hour load, RRC-connected devices per cell, N3 encapsulation and security overhead. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.