LTE SON Self Organizing Networks

With LTE requiring smaller cell sizes to enable the much greater levels of data traffic

to be handled, there networks have become considerably more complicated and

trying to plan and manage the network centrally is not as viable. Coupled with the

need to reduce costs by reducing manual input, there has been a growing impetus

to implement self organizing networks.

Accordingly LTE can be seen as one of the major drivers behind the self-organizing

network, SON philosophy.

Accordingly 3GPP developed many of the requirements for LTE SON to sit alongside

the basic functionality of LTE. As a result the standards for LTE SON are embedded

within the 3GPP standards.

LTE SON developmentThe term SON came into frequent use after the term was adopted by the Next

Generation Mobile Networks, NGMN alliance. The idea came about as result of the

need within LTE to be able to deploy many more cells. Femtocells and other

microcells are an integral part of the LTE deployment strategy. With revenue per bit

falling, costs for deployment must be kept to a minimum as well as ensuring the

network is operating to its greatest efficiency.

3GPP, the Third Generation Partnership Program has created the standards for SON

and as they are generally first to be deployed with LTE, they are often referred to as

LTE SON.

While 3GPP has generated the standards, they have been based upon long term

objectives for a 'SON-enabled broadband mobile network' set out by the NGMN.

NGMN has defined the necessary use cases, measurements, procedures and open

interfaces to ensure that multivendor offerings are available. 3GPP has incorporated

these aspirations into useable standards.

Major elements of LTE SONAlthough LTE SON self-optimising networks is one of the major drivers for the

generic SON technology, the basic requirements remain the same whatever the

technology to which it will be applied.

The main elements of SON include:

Self configuration:   The aim for the self configuration aspects of LTE SON

is to enable new base stations to become essentially "Plug and Play" items.

They should need as little manual intervention in the configuration process as

possible. Not only will they be able to organise the RF aspects, but also

configure the backhaul as well.

Self optimisation:   Once the system has been set up, LTE SON capabilities

will enable the base station to optimise the operational characteristics to best

meet the needs of the overall network.

Self-healing:   Another major feature of LTE SON is to enable the network to

self-heal. It will do this by changing the characteristics of the network to

mask the problem until it is fixed. For example, the boundaries of adjacent

cells can be increased by changing antenna directions and increasing power

levels, etc..

Typically an LTE SON system is a software package with relevant options that is

incorporated into an operator's network.

Note on SON, Self Organizing Networks:

SON mainly came out of the requirements of LTE and the more complicated networks

that will arise. However the concepts behind SON can be applied at any network

enabling its efficiency to be increased while keeping costs low. Accordingly, it is being

used increasingly to reduce operational and capital expenditure by adding software to

the network to enable it to organise and run itself.

Click on the link for further information about Self Organising Networks, SON

LTE SON and 3GPP standardsLTE Son has been standardised in the various 3GPP standards. It was first

incorporated into 3GPP release 8, and further functionality has been progressively

added in the further releases of the standards.

One of the major aims of the 3GPP standardization is the support of SON features is

to ensure that multi-vendor network environments operate correctly with LTE SON.

As a result, 3GPP has defined a set of LTE SON use cases and the associated SON

functions.

As the functionality of LTE advances, the LTE SON standardisation effectively track

the LTE network evolution stages. In this way SON will be applicable to the LTE

networks.