Multi-technology SON
Self-planning, self-optimization and self-healing for 2G, 3G and LTE networks
Wireless operators are facing an increasingly challenging business environment with the introduction of LTE, continued price erosion and commoditization of mobile broadband access. In this scenario, automation of engineering tasks becomes a must in order to cope with more complex radio access networks while at the same time keeping high quality standards, low operating costs and affordable needs for capital outlays. This is the context in which Self-Organized Networks (SON) have been proposed as a new network management paradigm in order to meet all these requirements for the LTE networks just about to be commercially deployed around the world.
Whereas current commercial and standardization efforts are mainly focused on the introduction and self-organization of LTE networks, Optimi’s value proposition extends the scope of self-configuration, self-optimization and self-healing to cover GSM, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS/HSPA radio access technologies, as well as of course LTE.
Why Multitechnology SON
The implications of Multi-technology SON are massive. On one hand, the adoption of a Multi-Technology approach allows operators to completely transform and streamline their operations, not only applying an innovative, automated approach to the new additional LTE network layer, but also extending the automation-related operational savings to all radio access technologies, thereby harmonizing the whole network management approach and boosting operational efficiency. On the other hand, the availability of a Multi-technology SON solution opens for more comprehensive optimization strategies that deal with several radio access technologies simultaneously.
Such Multi-Technology awareness is crucial in those cases in which there are cross-layer restrictions in the involved optimization processes, like for example when the same antenna is used for different radio access technologies.
Another important area in this respect is the orchestration of smart load balancing strategies between different technologies in order to boost the trunking efficiency of the composite system, as well as the optimization of the inter-RAT neighbor lists.
Furthermore, apart from these operational savings, the application of Multi-Technology SON also pushes network performance to its best possible operation point, which altogether leads to lower cost per bit and delayed investments in future network expansions.
