Cinzia Sartori

LTE Self-Organising Networks (SON): Network Management Automation for Operational Efficiency

Covering the key functional areas of LTE Self-Organising Networks (SON), this book introduces the topic at an advanced level before examining the state-of-the-art concepts. The required background on LTE network scenarios, technologies and general SON concepts is first given to allow readers with basic knowledge of mobile networks to understand the detailed discussion of key SON functional areas (self-configuration, -optimisation, -healing). Later, the book provides details and references for advanced readers familiar with LTE and SON, including the latest status of 3GPP standardisation.Based on the defined next generation mobile networks (NGMN) and 3GPP SON use cases, the book elaborates to give the full picture of a SON-enabled system including its enabling technologies, architecture and operation. Heterogeneous networks including different cell hierarchy levels and multiple radio access technologies as a new driver for SON are also discussed.Introduces the functional areas of LTE SON (self-optimisation, -configuration and healing) and its standardisation, also giving NGMN and 3GPP use casesExplains the drivers, requirements, challenges, enabling technologies and architectures for a SON-enabled systemCovers multi-technology (2G/3G) aspects as well as core network and end-to-end operational aspectsWritten by experts who have been contributing to the development and standardisation of the LTE self-organising networks concept since its inceptionExamines the impact of new network architectures (Heterogeneous Networks) to network operation, for example multiple cell layers and radio access technologies

Small-Cell Self-Organizing Wireless Networks

Increasing the spatial reuse of frequency spectrum by deploying more access points has historically been the most effective means to improve the capacity of any cellular communication network. Todays mobile networks face a proliferation of data services and overall demand for data traffic that has been strongly increasing over several years. As a result, increasing network capacity through the deployment of small lower power nodes is of key importance for mobile network operators. Although such small access points are conceptually equivalent to conventional cellular base stations in many ways, the expected large number of small cells as well as their much more dynamic unplanned deployment raise a variety of challenges in the area of network management. This paper discusses such challenges and reviews state-of-the-art modeling as well as selected network management techniques.

Network Slicing to Enable Scalability and Flexibility in 5G Mobile Networks

We argue for network slicing as an efficient solution that addresses the diverse requirements of 5G mobile networks, thus providing the necessary flexibility and scalability associated with future network implementations. We elaborate on the challenges that emerge when designing 5G networks based on network slicing. We focus on the architectural aspects associated with the coexistence of dedicated as well as shared slices in the network. In particular, we analyze the realization options of a flexible radio access network with focus on network slicing and their impact on the design of 5G mobile networks. In addition to the technical study, this article provides an investigation of the revenue potential of network slicing, where the applications that originate from this concept and the profit capabilities from the network operator�s perspective are put forward.

A Scalable and Flexible Radio Access Network Architecture for Fifth Generation Mobile Networks

The fifth generation of mobile networks is expected to become the key enabling technology for new services and businesses in the Internet of Things realm, including automotive and industry communications. At the same time, the demand for the “bread and butter” services of mobile broadband will continue to increase, driving the need for ubiquitous data capacity everywhere. Compared to 3GPP LTE, fifth generation radio access networks need to support much more diverse requirements with a wide range of deployment options for infrastructure and spectrum availability. Based on this insight, this article discusses a flexible and scalable radio access network architecture design.

Multi-Layer Traffic Steering: RRC Idle Absolute Priorities & Potential Enhancements

This paper investigates the potentials of traffic steering in the Radio Resource Control (RRC) Idle state by evaluating the Absolute Priorities (AP) framework in a multi-layer Long Term Evolution (LTE) macrocell scenario. Frequency priorities are broadcast on the system information and RRC Idle users can be steered towards higher priority carriers whenever coverage allows it. However, such an approach may overload the prioritized layers. For that purpose, an enhanced scheme is proposed, where priorities are adjusted on a user basis and are provided to the terminal via the connection release signaling. The priority adjustment is based on both the Composite Available Capacity (CAC) and the radio conditions of the candidate layers. Compared to broadcast AP, the proposed scheme achieves better load balancing performance and improves network capacity, given that the User Equipment (UE) inactivity periods are not significantly long. Finally, better alignment between the RRC Connected and Idle mobility procedures is observed, guarantying significant decrease of handovers/reselections and potential battery life savings by minimizing the Inter-Frequency (IF) measurement rate in the RRC Idle.

5G multi-RAT multi-connectivity architecture

The 5th generation of mobile networks is envisioned to unify different access types under one system in order to enable efficient and performant operations. We propose a radio network architecture for tight integration of multiple radio access technologies supporting traffic steering, link selection, and aggregation of traffic flows from and to different sources. This enables the radio network architecture to support better throughput, and increased reliability with different levels of mobility. Specifically, we propose a common user plane and control plane across different radio technologies utilizing similar principles, such that the joint operation of radio technologies can be optimized.

Architecture Vision for the 5G Era: Cognitive and Cloud Network Evolution

Requirements and use cases for the 5G era are demanding in key dimensions such as throughput, latency, scalability and automation. From these, an end-to-end architectural vision has been developed in a holistic way and including novel architectural concepts including 5G access domain and 5G era horizontal layers in conjunction with cloud, software defined and cognitive networks transformation. End-to-end architecture for the 5G era is decomposed in a systematic manner, key attributes and characteristics of the associated architectural domains are described.