Functions and Elements of Self Organising Networks

Functions and genes of Self Organising Net treatsCHAPTER 1In this chapter I will be discussing about the main leads of son, its components, portions and how does it atomizes the whole LTE profit infrastructure. I have organised this chapter in the following way and will beg off each of the component respectively.OAMAutomatic Con somauration FeaturesNeighbour likenessAutomatic Neighbour Relation sufficementConnectivity focusingSelf quizAutomatic InventorySo, lets get growed with the detain explanation, description and working of the OAM strategy first.1OAM (Operation, Administration and wariness)1.1IntroductionOAM stands for Operation, Administration and commission dodges. As we have discussed in the front chapters that just about of the profit operations today is controlled and managed by a measurable entity which is known as the OAM agreement. primary(prenominal)ly in a centralized carcass architecture solely the Self-Configuration, Self-Optimization and Self- Healing operations be controlled with with(predicate) the OAM system. In the near paragraph a brief description of what feeds does the Operation, Administration and steering system take c atomic number 18 of is explained.Operations system deals in both the politics and anxiety systems. It is basic completelyy a centralized control structure which keeps coordination amongst both the new(prenominal) systems. Administration system as it stands control either(a) the administrative tasks like ne tworks design, assignment of addresses, keeping interlock up to insure and other administrative single-valued functions. And lastly the Maintenance system gives and keeps the profits foot race by dint of keeping check of altogether the constituents, executing grant diagnostic functions, monitoring net profit and resetting the components or whole web if involve. altogether these components work par in allel to keep the net profit in operational state.1.2ArchitectureFor any earnings to operate optimally it is actually necessary to keep check on all the shargons. The factor of profit should have a system done which he sight make sure that in that location is no crack and mesh topology is running normally. In the direct 1.1 below a graduate(prenominal) level OAM architecture architecture is represended.OAM Architecture build1.1As it is clear with fig 1.1 that OAM has further devided commission works and provided dedicated servers to each management seam to deal with its functions. All the management servers serves their corresponding nodes layer by layer to perform the management tasks. lucre protocols has been defined at each port onto the Network portion or end user for execution of nonchalant management functions.Though the architecture diagram we fanny conclude two main logical functions that devides the OAM according to their functions and roles. These functions ar given below,Network Management function fixings Management functionMainly in the communicate managements systems, OAM is addressed as the entity which controls, maintains and configures the meshing. The term OAM is utilise in the 3GPP documentation for the network management functions. As five main sub-functions of Network Management Systems argon derived from the main functions of OAM and hence NMS is also reffered as the OAM systems in many contexts. OAM when con fontr lot of provisonal functions then it is known as the OAMP, P stands for provision in this situation. The functional elements of Network Management System is given in the figure 1.2 below.Fig 1.2In the succeeding(a) part I will be discussing two very definitive management functions related to the OAM architecture and those argon as follows,1.3Element Management System (EMS)As we know network element is an entity composed of the physical hardw ar. Processes and executions be performed on those physical devices to provide inspection and repair the users. Therefore, a management technique to manage these elements of the network is known as the Element Management System. The management system a very all-inclusive topic however I will keep focus on the main components which integrates with the SON technique for the optimization of cellular networks. As we passel see in the fig 1.1 the Network management system collects all the data from EMS and EMS gathers all useful roundments for the NE respectively. The difference is NMS mainly put to death the aggregated measurements from NEs to accomplish required functions but EMS works on single(a) NE at a time. Below is the high-level architecture of the EMS and the components it interacts with. Fig 1.2Furthermore, I would give a brief description of the components shown in the fig 1.2 above. The EMS bring togethers to the NMS server to provide all the hoard and aggregated selective information or measurement from the network elements. NMS makes decisions constituted on these collected data from EMS. The client is used to show or present the data to user with a user friendly graphic user port wine. The operator can login through the client to configure and maintain network when needed. The data footing function is to store all the usable measurements and information. These measurements are used when a fault occurs in the Network Element. Evaluating and comparing the network performances with these measurements give a complete sight of what susceptibility be causing the errors in the network. And the last component which is the Network Element is same we have discussed earlier, a physical device used to black market all the processes and functions.A question that arises here is that the network elements can be managed and assemble through accessing the devices itself so why do we need a central Element Management System? Therefore, the need of this management function is explained as follows.1.3.1Requirement of EMSNetwork are getting very complex as new functionalities and work are added very frequently. And with that, new vendors and service providers are introducing themselves in market. As the network size is enhancing the operations at the network element end is also increasing. This operation management demands high greet and effort. Therefore, to minimize the cost, effort and a centralized solution to manage the networks were provided by the 3GPP. An appropriate and user-friendly interface is very rattling to perform and manage managerial tasks with ease. Some main issues which the operators of telecom companies were facing are depict in the next paragraph.Firstly, Due to the development of fresh network elements and services there was a need to provision diverse elements from varied vendors. For example, scour in a single network GSM, UMTS and LTE can work side by side therefore a management system was required which can gather all the data from all the network elements. Secondly, the complexity issues were raising as of now many mul tiple functionalities are confluence into one single functionality which makes the network complex. And lastly but the most important is the cost. The cost associated in dealing with each element individually was very high, therefore to manage complete network and its services remotely and through a central entity which has all the data and measurements from all the network elements can reduce huge costs.Progressing through EMS now I will explain the functions and services EMS provides to the network and how it interacts with its upper layer that is the Network Management System.1.3.2Functions of EMSElement Management System basically manages the immoral stations that is eNodeBs in the LTE network architecture in accordance with SON. The main functions which EMS features while managing the network elements are given below.1.3.2.1Provisioning and Installation of NEWhen a base station that is eNodeB is machine-accessible to a power station but not yet configured and basic setup is not initiated, eNodeBs at this file needs to connect to the network to perform basic functions. So, the Self-Configuration function of SON is initiated to make a connection, eNodeB for connectivity requires an IP-address and OAM support to start functionating. For obtaining basic configuration and parameter settings the eNodeB connects to the OAM system.Now the EMS element in the OAM must provision, support and provide these basic configuration settings to the eNodeB. The EMS checks is they can provide the service base station is asking for. The inventory management server is checked for this purpose. Once the resources are available and identified the configurations are uploaded onto the base stations and correct parameters are set up. At this point the network elements are ready to be interconnected with the network and start functioning. This technique is used in the Self-Configuration function of SON for the basic connectivity with the network. Furthermore, this function of EMS also maintains the backup and restore points for the network element. Downloading, installing the patches and newly updated packet on the eNodeBs are handled by the EM system too.The inventory system database in the EM system contains all the required parameter settings used by the eNodeBs for the self-configuration and auto-connectivity once powered on. Every element in the moderne telecom services are automated through SON and a technician is only needed when something couldnt be resolved automatically. At that point the lead or operator precisely login through the EMS graphical user interface and handles all the faults and errors with ease.1.3.2.2Managing User terminals and maintaining QOSIn a wide scale network, there are thousand of base stations and thousands of user-equipment are connected to these base stations. Therefore, to manage this big network is not easy at the operators end. The majuscule outlay to deploy base stations and then the operational expenditure to m aintain each single base station requires huge fare of cost and with cost excessive gentleman effort is required to maintain base stations. Therefore, EM system manages these user terminals by gathering the statistics of all the users cell through cell and saves these measurements into the database. So, the message status between the base station and UE are attained in the shape of statistical reports. The vital data collected in these statistics are given below,All the prospered calls.All the failed calls.Dropped calls.Successful HOs.Failed HOs.The traffic capacity that is throughput.By gaining all these important statistics from the network the EM system analyzes and makes appropriate decisions when needed. Not only this but EMS uses these measurements to maintain the Quality of Service too.1.3.2.3Network Support Network support mainly aims in the activities related to the maintenance of the network. And as discussed earlier operators goal is to belittle the cost as much as th ey can. As much the network is well managed and well driven the cost will decrease. So, quality of management systems is inversely proportion to the cost. With the cost, there is one more concern that operators are facing and that is the lack of professional technicians. And both concerns can be rationalise through the automatic solutions. Therefore, automatic network systems reduce human interference and cuts the cost too. And for the support of network automatically EMS functionalities are evolved. Main functionality that EMS provides for the network support are given below.Debugging and resolving software issues such as bugs and errors. EMS provides a method to automatically resolve these errors remotely.All the security statistics are handled by EMS which the network requires to handle and secure vital information and data.All the network faults and issues at the element level are mitigated through the EMS. As Network management system deals with the combined data and informat ion from several network elements. But the EMS takes charge and record of each Element individually.And lastly EMS allows operators to login to the specific node for the purpose of upgradation or changing parameters. The operator does not have to go physically to the base station and login through its internal interface.1.3.2.4Monitoring of NetworksThe monitoring of networks is mainly done on the Network Management System but some of its function is punish on the EMS. EMS supports the NMS through some of its functionalities for the monitoring and control. First, we need to understand that monitoring of networks is executed on NMS and portions of these functions are performed on the EMS level. The EMS layer is below the NMS layer and therefore it provides major feeds to the layers above it. The monitoring systems main tasks which optimizes the network are given in the figure 1.3 below. Fig 1.3The 3GPP defines standards of OAM with very classified condition. And it is very clear th at the OAM specification gives ease in implementing the management system for the network. There are other network management specifications like TMF but the 3GPP specification about the OAM is very broad and revolves around some specific function or technology. The specifications, standards, specifications and how does 3GPP uses SON to optimize networks are explained in the last chapter of this paper that is 3GPP specifications and its interaction with SON.1.4Network Management System (NMS)The network management system in the OAM architecture is open(a) of managing the complete network in a combined method that is, managing of receiving set transmissions, core networks and the base stations. NMS manages all these entities on one single platform. And delinquent to the capability of managing everything on one single node the cost and human effort is decreased exponentially. There is a term used in the management system called FCPS which stands for Fault, Configuration, Performance and Security Management. And this function works on all the layers of the OAM model. On every layer, it has different function but the everyday explanation of FCPS is explained in the last portion of this topic. Basically, how NMS functions is explained in the example below,Lets determine there is a fault detected on the NE. Because whenever an event occurs network element generates a log which notifies EMS of the event occurrence. EMS would collect these statistics from the NE. Now NMS debt instrument is to tackle the issue and take corrective measures. To accomplish these goals NMS gibes the statistics from different NE and different events, this technique helps the NMS to discover the issue or fault by comparing different statistics. A real-time example of NMS working could be of a disconnection scenario between a base station and the media gateway. Logs and stats cover version the connection lost will be generated on the elements of both base stations and the MGW. As base station and MGW are two different network elements and EMS always record the stats of specific network element individually. So, it competency collect the stats from the base station or the MGW, but the Network Management System at this point records data from both the elements and then correlate them. Therefore, in the scenarios defined above the stats and logs from base station and MGW can be analyzed together which makes the work on NMS level easy to finger the actual problem in the network. And when the problem is diagnosed NMS takes the proper corrective measure to mitigate the issue which EMS can not do by just gathering the logs of one network element. This is a case specific function of how NMS tackles the issues. The other functions and activities NMS performs to optimize the network are given in the next section.1.4.1Activities performed by NMSAll the main activities that the NMS performs prior to any maintenance book of instructions or corrective measures are given bel ow.Learn about all the elements available in the network. It works in two ways, manual uncovering which is done by the operator and the second is automatic element discovery. In an auto discovery mode, this management system automatically discovers and identifies all the network elements and assign IPs to the particular element which requires it. The manual discovery is executed by the operator and manage the network elements that is assign IP addresses to the elements and discover all the elements in the network through the application menu.Gathering all the imperfect data. The reason this activity is scheduled to be executed after the network elements discovery is to associate the faulty information with the specific element and components which are causing the error. In the NMS software, all the discovered elements form a maneuver type structure and hence associating the correct statistics with the corresponding element assists in debugging the fault.Collecting all the perform ance statistics and data. The faulty data discussed above is sent to the NMS only when they arise but on the other hand the performance logs and stats are stored in the files of network element itself. And these stats are downloaded on the NMS from the NE at the periodic intervals.User Authentications. All the internal user in the NMS needs to be authenticated for the security reasons. There are commands in NMS which can collapse the vital network components which can cause strike on whole network therefore, robust security needs to be implemented on the NMS.Collecting other configurations and data. The last activity executed by the NMS prior to start managing and maintenance of the networkall the other statistics and configurations in the element required in the NMS to execute any function is also collected from the NE.So, when all the elements are discovered and prerequisite activities have been executed successfully the NMS is the all set for the management and maintenance tasks of the network. These functions, maintenance, corrective measures, fault detecting etcetera are performed by analyzing the earlier collected data from the NE. Main functions of the NMS includes outlining the flow of information, provisioning of network, troubleshooting, configured elements maintenance, making appropriate decisions for the optimal utilization of resources etc. The problem which sometimes arises is the parameter or configuration changes in the network elements. These changes must be updated on the NMS so that it can find an appropriate solution when required. Therefore, network elements are rediscovered at periodic intervals so that the most current statistics and data could be known to the EMS.The next section would counterbalance of the NMS general architecture and the components which reside in the NMS. Description and explanation of these components are also given in the section below.1.4.2NMS Architecture