OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks

7/31/2019 OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks

1/18

A P P L I C A T I O N N O T E

OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks


2/18

Abstract

Introduction o new wireless devices, combined with growing demand and changing usage behavioro mobile subscribers, increases the pressure on service providers to deliver a high quality o servicewhile maintaining a proftable business. Together with the evolution o backhaul and packet core toIP, more efcient management systems are o paramount importance to address these new challenges.

This document describes how Alcatel-Lucents Converged Wireless IP Management solution managesand optimizes network and subscriber experience more efciently, end-to-end, rom the subscriberdevice to the packet core. It also outlines why innovative monitoring and tight integration canincrease the eectiveness o operational processes to signifcantly reduce total cost o ownership.


3/18

Table of contents

1 Increasingdemandorhigherdataspeed

2 Strategyandprinciples

2 Anintegratedmanagementsystem

4 Smallcellmanagement

5 Innovativeandwireless-specifcapplications

6 Afeld-provenhigh-endoptimizationsuite

6 Radio Network Planner

7 Network Performance Optimizer

8 Sel-organizingnetworks

9 IP backhauling and ePC management

10 Introducingsubscriberandapplication-levelmonitoring

12 IntelligentTrafcManagement

13 Conclusion

14 Abbreviations


4/18

OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks | Application Note 1

Increasing demand for higher data speed

With the availability o new mobile applications, the telecom market is acing an increasingdemand or broadband access with a high Quality o Service (QoS). A common strategy adoptedby most operators consists in a) deploying 3G technology in dense urban areas that have a highdemand or data throughput and b) complementing this oer with EDGE services on the 2G layer.The combination o both 2G and 3G technologies ensures a good coverage and service continuity

while minimizing the total cost o ownership (TCO).

The recent introduction o high-end mobile devices has urther increased subscribers demandand expectations or new bandwidth-hungry services, which will beneft rom the implementationo advanced modulations bringing higher throughput, and the IP backhauling brought by LTE.Depending on markets and time rame, the need or a combination o several technologies willbe stronger, driven by subscriber density and investment opportunities, and leading to increasedcomplexity and operational expenses or the management o such networks.

Mobile network operators satisying tomorrows multimedia networks will need to combine wirelessassets with end-to-end IP networking and management. To that end, the Alcatel-Lucent HighLeverage Network (HLN) architecture depicted in Figure 1 addresses the transormation o the

backhaul and transport networking elements o a wireless network to a highly scalable and cost-eective IP and MPLS packet-switched inrastructure.

Figure 1. The High Leverage Network for wireless

Convergedwireline access

Multi-screen servicesWeb and Enterprise 2.0

Convergedmetro and aggregation

Convergededge

Converged service-aware

network management

Convergedbackbone

Converged RAN

Convergedservice control

Residential/

Enterprisegateways

Radio access

VDSL/GPON/Ethernet access

Ethernet/MPLS/Optical

Mobilitymanagement

Sessioncontrol

Policymanagement

Service routers

IP/Optical

This converged inrastructure supports current 2G and 3G requirements and the transormation toLTE, while also providing the instrumentation and intelligence required by mobile network operators.


5/18

OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks | Application Note2

Strategy and principles

In such a high-demanding context, Alcatel-Lucent has dedicated extensive eorts to developand consolidate a wide range o multi-standard solutions that will drive operators orward to awinning and cost-eective strategy, thanks to a modular approach that can build on the existinginrastructure. This approach is based on the ollowing three principles:

Convergence

Common applications, look-and-eel and Northbound Interace standards compliance (3GPP)

Common underlying sotware assets (components, inrastructure)

Common deployment platorms hardware, OS (e.g., Solaris, Oracle)

Completeness

Functional integration optimizing workow and maximizing automation or lower OPEX/TCO(e.g., tight coupling with Planning, Provisioning and Perormance Optimization systems)

Simplifed integration with upstream Operational Support Systems (OSS)

Innovation

Correlation o IP and wireless domains or a more efcient ault detection and service assurance

Advanced wireless-intelligent behavior-based trafc classifcation and end-to-end networkperormance monitoring

An integrated management system

The Alcatel-Lucent portolio comprises a consistent set o products dedicated to the managemento the dierent wireless technologies (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Converging the network management portfolio

9253 OMC-RAN

9153 OMC

9353 WMS

9453 XMS

5620 SAM

5 AM

CDMA

GSM

W-CDMA

LTE

IP/ePC

W-CDMA

LTE

IP/ePC

GSM

CDMA

These products have been careully designed in order to enable interoperation and may becombined together with the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) to constitutea multi-technology management solution, where more than one technology is deployed. Itdelivers the best combination o commonly shared unctions without disruption with the existingmanagement systems.


6/18


In addition to managing IP networks, the 5620 SAM is now introducing the management o LTERAN, and will also incorporate multi-technology support, bringing signifcant advantages or theoperation o, or example, combined LTE/CDMA and LTE/GSM networks.

It is a comprehensive and extremely scalable system that covers the whole spectrum o unctionsrequired or an efcient and cost-eective end-to-end management omultitechnology wirelessnetworks.

The Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless Packet Core (UWPC) extends the capabilities o Alcatel-Lucents service-aware, high-perormance LTE Evolved Packet Core (ePC) to also support the GPRSSupport Node unctions o the existing 2.5G/3G network, thus providing a converged packet coreor all mobile broadband services.

The 5620 SAM is used to manage the UWPC, enabling end-to-end management o the IP serviceswithin the E-UTRAN, backhaul and core networks, as illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3. End-to-end Network Management

SGSN

UTRAN

UMTS, HSPA

Ultimate wirelesspacket coreMobile backhaul

SGW

5620 SAM

PGW/GGSN

PCRFE-UTRAN

LTE

GERAN

GPRS, EDGE

With this converged wireless IP management approach, not only signifcant savings can be expectedor network deployments and migrations but, as well, consistently designed tools and processes canhelp optimize the operations by reducing training costs and duration.

The 5620 SAM does not only offer integrated management of multiple technologies. Itimplements a true end-to-end approach that is essential to efciently addressing new operatorchallenges, while still delivering many advanced eatures that can make daily operations simple,secure, and more efcient, such as:

Advanced role-based security ramework and system administration

Plug-and-play network elements, thus reducing commissioning eort

Multiple supervision and service assurance modes, combined with the ability to defne exiblework zones in order to match any organizational or operational constraints


7/18


Small cell management

The Small Cell Management Solution, based on the Alcatel-Lucent 9353 W-CDMA ManagementSystem (WMS), has been specially designed to meet the challenges o handling very large numberso devices, with specifc requirements:

The subscriber is part o the end-to-end service delivery chain

The number o managed devices is orders o magnitude larger (millions compared to thousands

o base stations)

W-CDMA is a complex technology that requires regular tuning

The Small cell management system combines, as described in Figure 4, the best capabilities o a richportolio:

The 9353 WMS or state-o-the-art W-CDMA management

The Motive HDM optimized or large numbers o home devices is also the Alcatel-Lucentsolution or the management o DSL Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)

Figure 4. The Small cells management system

WMS

W-CDMA

Small cell management

Customer care system

TR-69

interface

WMSsmall cells

RAN

gateways

Small

cell devices

MotiveHDM

The Small cell management system is especially targeting minimum deployment and operationalexpenses, and can manage millions o sel-installed access points, thanks to advanced sel-deployingand sel-optimizing concepts designed in Bell labs. It eatures automatic, zero-touch provisioning osmall cell devices with no manual setup or installation procedures needed.

Moreover, it can interwork with other occurrences o 9353 WMS in order to keep the Macro celland the Small cell layers synchronized rom a radio confguration parameters standpoint.

Finally, dedicated interaces allow the Small cell management system to interact with externalcustomer care systems or help-desk support.


8/18


Innovative and wireless-specic applications

The Alcatel-Lucent Wireless Management portolio is not limited to providing smart RANOperation & Maintenance. It also addresses many o the issues aced by wireless service providers,thanks to a number o capabilities that can hardly be provided by combining several third-partyproducts. This integrated approach brings key advantages over individual third-party productscombined with external solutions rom IT vendors:

Fully validated products with guaranteed interoperability not only towards the RAN but as wellbetween the dierent actors o the network design and optimization process

Zero delay with the RAN release delivery, where third-party products and tools usually require aminimum six-month shit

Wireless applications and tools are designed on the basis o direct customers requirements, andthe knowledge and experience rom Alcatel-Lucent experts who are continuously deploying andoptimizing the corresponding RAN hardware and sotware

Direct interaces between the various parts o the system drastically increase overall efciencyvia seamless inormation exchange instead o requiring manual inputs or work-orders, or late andexpensive adaptations involving complex subcontracted projects

This tight integration o components oers a unique advantage when it comes to multi-technologynetworks. As an example, 2G and 3G systems are complementary technologies oering voice anddata service continuity to the end user.

However, inter-system mobility implies a tailored neighboring plan declaration and a permanentsynchronization between the two systems, as illustrated in Figure 5. In order to maintain anoptimum quality o service and continuous mobility between 2G and 3G layers, the RAN must besynchronized with the changes made to the cellular design parameters o the other RAN (e.g., newBroadcast Control Channel [BCCH] plan on the 2G side or scrambling code plan update on the3G side). Note that similar interaces are used or synchronizing 2G/3G and 4G neighbor cells, inaddition to the Automatic Neighbor Relationship (ANR) capability available or LTE.

Figure 5. Inter-RAT synchronization for mobility

2G RAN

Create/modify cell

3G RAN

p ate Rconfigurationinformation

Border cells definitions

This improves the overall quality o service, by reducing the rate o inter-technology handoverailures, while reducing the OPEX by avoiding the needs or manual housekeeping on theneighboring systems.


9/18


A eld-proven high-end optimization suite

In addition to the unifed management system described previously, a complete set o monitoringand optimization companion products is available to match the most stringent requirements romhighly demanding operators.

RadioNetworkPlanner

The Alcatel-Lucent 9955 Radio Network Planner (RNP) oers radio network planning servicesor the whole range o wireless technologies (GSM, CDMA, EvDO, W-CDMA, LTE). It supportsplanning tasks such as initial planning, network design, rollout and capacity planning. Directinteraces to the Alcatel-Lucent Network Management systems drastically shorten the deploymentand extension phases, as the management systems can be directly ed with the radio design data,enabling a more reliable, aster network roll-out.

In addition to a highly eective graphical user interace (illustrated by the screen capture on Figure6), RNP can be delivered with a number o advanced modules, thereby deriving additional savingsrom several complex areas, such as:

Coverage optimization

Automated requency planning Intererence matrixes calculation based on feld Radio Measurement Statistics

Figure 6. The Alcatel-Lucent 9955 Radio Network Planner

A comprehensive set o high value-added eatures are provided, including urban prediction modulesbased on 3D ray-tracing techniques and a highly sophisticated automatic requency planning module.

Optional modules are also available or:

Building Database Management and Urban Propagation Model

Automatic coverage and capacity optimization

Microwave link planning


10/18


NetworkPerormanceOptimizer

The Alcatel-Lucent 9959 Network Performance Optimizer (NPO), massively adopted anddeployed in more than 150 networks, is now available or multiple wireless technologies (GSM/EDGE, W-CDMA/HSPA, LTE). Due to its quick adoption rate and numerous deployments, it hasbeen used in a variety o dierent situations and can thereore demonstrate a high reliability andperormance level, while perectly meeting the most specifc needs and requirements, rom advanceddiagnosis and repair to high-level executive reports. Unlike other perormance monitoring systems,

it has been specifcally designed to meet wireless operators requirements since the very beginning.It is used on a daily basis to ensure the highest network QoS by such a large number o wirelessoperators, including some o the biggest Tier-1 operators.

Figure 7. The Alcatel-Lucent 9959 Network Performance Optimizer

The 9959 NPO eatures a number o innovative approaches that drastically reduce the overheado manipulating huge amounts o data and allows users to immediately ocus on the most importantinormation, thanks to a number o advanced methods and tools, based on the combination operormance measurements, confguration inormation, and supervision data.

As the same product supports the dierent Radio Access technologies, once trained or a givenRAN, users can easily use 9959 NPO or a dierent RAN. This allows signifcant savings interms o training, while enabling users to leverage their experience when introducing a new radiotechnology.

The Alcatel-Lucent 9959 NPO signifcantly improves the efciency o the optimization process.Thanks to the numerous eatures helping the operator quickly identiy the main causes or degradedquality, many o the SON targets brought by LTE are already addressed in the context o the GSMand WCDMA management systems, including:

Identifcation o worst cells regarding a selectable set o perormance metrics

Automated diagnosis perormed on areas requiring improvements

Assisted identifcation o sub-optimal adjacency relationship parameters


11/18


Tuning sessions automatically produced with recommended parameter setting changes, also calledAssisted Tuning, represents a signifcant step towards the sel-optimizing networks and is alreadyavailable or GSM and W-CDMA RAN. This capability will urther enhance sel-optimizingprocesses implemented in LTE, adding open-loop optimization with an end-to-end perspective.

NPO also provides via the optional Wireless Call Trace (WCT) and Per Call MeasurementData (PCMD) a call-based analyzer that processes data rom the WCDMA and LTE network

elements, targeting call troubleshooting and handover/mobility improvement.

These eatures mainly oer:

Mobility optimization and call ailure analysis, allowing operators to efciently adjust thehandover parameters

Evaluation o the sel-optimization algorithms efciency (or LTE networks), allowing operatorsto assess how the SON mechanisms are perorming

Statistical analysis o call ailures according to dierent criteria (location, ailure types, signallevel, etc.)

Detailed call analysis, allowing operators to identiy call ailure reasons

The 9959 NPO can also perorm network availability analysis, allowing operators to measure andcontinuously monitor loss o services, providing valuable statistics in terms o overall quality o thenetwork. Both planned and unplanned unavailability periods can be analyzed, together with thenetwork nodes involved, helping characterize the source o such outages.

Self-organizing networks

Wireless access technologies are becoming more complexdue to increasingly sophisticated radio modulations whichimprove the spectral efciency or advanced antennasystems used to reduce intererences. As a result, relyingon manual tuning and optimization becomes more and

more expensive, and less and less efcient. Additionalreasons or increasingly difcult network tuning includethe ollowing situations:

As several radio access technologies are being deployedon the same coverage areas, subscriber equipmentswill move rom one RAN to another as a consequenceo handovers, as a result o cell overload or coverageholes. This requires a combined optimization and morecoordination rom the dierent systems.

When new sites are deployed, a re-planning othe network is needed, resulting in parameter

confguration changes, including changes or theexisting sites. Such changes cannot avoid impacts on the trafc, oten requiring a ew days torecover the same level o quality.

Maintenance operations oten require sites to be shut down, producing negative impacts on thetrafc, including or neighboring sites that become overloaded.

Figure 8. SON automates and accelerates

the network lifecycle

SON

Measure

Plan

ConfigureOptimize


12/18


The Small cell product range has required a completely disruptive approach regarding deploymenteasiness, as it is intended or installation at subscriber premises, by the customer itsel. Highlyinnovative sel-installing and sel-confguring mechanisms have been designed by Bell Labs(Alcatel-Lucents research arm), allowing operators to deliver early implementation o the SONconcepts within the W-CDMA small cell base stations that are available today.

Thanks to that, Alcatel-Lucent has developed unmatched skills in implementing sel-optimization

eatures that were used or designing the LTE network elements with extremely efcient and reliablealgorithms. Alcatel-Lucents comprehensive range o optimization tools represents a considerableadvantage when deploying these sel-optimization eatures in order to assess their beneftsand check their stability. NPO provides powerul KPI processing tools that are associated to trendanalyzers, helping observe the global network QoS and identiy any service-aecting situations.This will be a key element to oster a wide acceptance o the SON-based innovations.

IPbackhaulingandePCmanagement

One o the key benefts o the IP transmission backbone is to bring a considerable simplifcationo the backhauling while drastically reducing its cost. However, when it comes to the total cost oownership o the solution, a ully integrated management becomes a key success actor. In order tooer the best possible end-to-end solution, Alcatel-Lucent integrates its best IP/MPLS management

tools with the Wireless Management solution. These tools allow the service provider to isolateaults and provision transport services quickly, with an end-to-end, service-aware perspective (asillustrated in Figure 9), rather than time-consuming connection-by-connection, element-by-elementault tracing and provisioning, which are prone to errors.

Figure 9. Multi-layer, service-aware transmission management

Transport services

Service

IP/MPLS

Physical


13/18


The 5620 SAM manages the Alcatel-Lucent Service Router portolio, as well as Microwave PacketRadio and optical switches. It provides integrated element, network and service management, notonly to the IP/MPLS network elements, but as well manages the ePC network elements (MME,S-GW, P-GW, etc.) and the RAN elements in order to oer a completely integrated serviceassurance thanks to a single supervision, alarm management and OSS gateway unction.

The 5620 SAM Service Test Manager and the service-aware Fault Management toolset oer

comprehensive service ault management, service impact analysis and service topology map eaturesto reduce the mean time to repair (MTTR) and SLA penalties by providing:

Reliable Network & Service Assurance

Preventing service issues beore customers are aected using proactive scheduled OAM testswith threshold alerts

Quickly identiying and resolving problems with correlated problem detection

Visualizing real-time confguration and status using topology views or routing, MPLS, VPNservices, and composites with multiple stitched services

Leveraging extensive statistics or SLA and perormance monitoring, accounting and billing,and application-level assurance

Accelerated Network & Service Provisioning

Quickly provisioning device, network, routing protocols and services using an easy-to-use,customizable GUI

Minimizing operator errors with the use o templates and scripts

Introducing subscriber and application-level monitoring

The expansion o data services is essential to the evolution o the wireless market. As a result,operators need to understand the complex relationship o subscribers, their applications (e-mail, socialapplications, multimedia, ...) and how they are perorming in conjunction to the end-to-end (RAN to

back haul to packet core to the internet) mobile data network and the critical mobile resources such asbandwidth, signalling and airtime.

The Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG) provides unique insights into therelationships among mobile data application and device trafc, network loading and perormance,and end-user quality o experience (QoE). The 9900 WNG gives wireless service providers theability to quickly identiy the root causes o subscriber service issues or network perormance issues,rapidly assess the impact o new applications and devices on their network, more accurately orecastuture capacity needs, and improve customer-care capabilities.


14/18


The 9900 WNG integrates advanced wireless-intelligent behaviour-based trafc classifcation withend-to-end network perormance monitoring into one system giving wireless service providersintelligent, correlated inormation across both the IP and RF domains. Figure 12 shows the networktopology, which is auto-discovered by the 9900 WNG.

Figure 12. 9900 WNG Network topology view

By monitoring both the IP and RF domains, the 9900 WNG is able to compile a wide range ometrics across multiple dimensions rom both a network and subscriber perspective. The 9900WNG can be used by many groups including network operations, network planning, customer care,and sales and marketing. Figure 13 shows the application view provided by the 9900 WNG.

Figure 13. 9900 WNG Network forensics application view


15/18


The 9900 WNG can also identiy a wide range o perormance issues associated with thesubscribers data session, including issues such as poor cell perormance, high packet loss ata RNC, inability to launch a data session, DNS ailures, poor-perorming device and more.Figure 14 shows the subscriber-specifc ow and session level view.

Figure 14. 9900 WNG - Subscriber forensics flow and session level view

This ability to quickly analyze and correlate data spanning subscriber experience, networkperormance and network load, makes the 9900 WNG truly unique in the industry.

Intelligent Trafc Management

Alcatel-Lucents Intelligent Trafc Management (ITM) solution is a perect example o how mobileservice providers can leverage the intelligence embedded in their network to provide much more

than basic congestion control. ITM ensures customer satisaction and reduces operating costs byprotecting the Quality o Experience (QoE) o subscribers while maintaining the integrity o thenetwork. The solution combines the real-time network intelligence provided by the award-winning Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG with scalable policy control oered by the Alcatel-Lucent5780 Dynamic Services Controller (DSC). See Figure 15 or an illustration o the ITM process.

Figure 15. The Intelligent Traffic Management (ITM) process

Packet core

9900 WirelessNetwork Guardian

5780 DynamicServices Controller

Anomaly notification

Processand trigger

Enforce and deliver

Monitorand analyze

Radio accessnetwork

Backhaul


16/18


Unique in its ability to understand the dynamics o wireless broadband data, the 9900 WNGcorrelates applications to device-specifc IP packet ows and understands how every IP packetimpacts wireless resources. This true end-to-end intelligence enables identifcation o specifcnetwork anomalies down to the specifc device and application. The 5780 DSC leverages thisintelligence with exible business rules that can be dynamically triggered.

With ull support o multivendor and multi-technology networks, ITM empowers wireless service

providers to proactively ensure a positive customer experience while maintaining efcient use onetwork resources.

Conclusion

Alcatel-Lucent oers a unifed management solution covering a large set o domains. Backed by aset o highly specialized analysis and optimization tools, this comprehensive portolio is capable omeeting the highest standards in terms o efciency, availability and ability to reduce operationalcosts or operators, while providing a stepwise evolution path that protects customer investment.

With a strong emphasis on an end-to-end approach, important aspects such as IP transmissionbackhaul management and network instrumentation (enabling a subscriber-, service- and application-

oriented control) are addressed consistently with the High Leverage Networks concepts that arebeing orchestrated in the whole portolio o products and solutions as summarized in Figure 16.

Figure 16. Converging Radio, IP and Core to offer a consistent, comprehensive solution

Accelerate massrollouts

Secure upgradesand migrations

Simulate propagationand traffic

Optimizecoverage

Streamlinetrace collection

Identifynetwork issues

Share expertsknowledge

Leverage experiencevia automated tools

Assess unfriendlyapplications

Identify abusivesubscribers

Improves the visibilityon network usage

Brings devicelevel statistics

Shorten networkplanning phase

Accelerate trafficincrease

Avoid expensivedrive tests

Every vendor claims to have the best OAM solution; what we have seen from NPO, shows that the tool capabilitieswere specified by real users to match their day-to-day work requirements. This is the type of tools that we need

Network Manager, NA Operator

Achieve better QoS and QoE,thus retaining subscribers

Refinetraffic models

Radio networkplanning

Configurationand provisioning

Wireless traceanalysis

Performanceoptimization

5620 SAM

Networkintelligence

Per callmeasurements

LTE ePC Backhaul W-CDMA GSMCDMA


17/18


Abbreviations3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

BCCH Broadcast Control Channel

CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

CPE Customer Premises Equipment

DoS Denial of Service

DPI Deep Packet InspectionDSC Dynamic Services Controller

EDGE Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution GSM

ePC Evolved Packet Core

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

HLN High Leverage Network

ITM Intelligent Trafc Management

LTE Long Term Evolution

MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switchin

MTTR mean time to repair

NPO Network Performance Optimizer

OAM Operation Administration & Maintenance

OPEX Operational Expenses

OS Operating System

OSS Operation Support Systems

P2P Peer-to-Peer

PGW Packet Data Network Gateway

QoE Quality of Experience

QoS Quality of Service

RAN Radio Access Network

RAT Radio Access Technology

RNP Radio Network Planner

ROI Return On investment

TCO total cost of ownershipUE User Equipment

UWPC Ultimate Wireless Packet Core

WCT Wireless Call Trace

WNG Wireless Network Guardian


18/18

www.alcatel-lucent.com Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logoare trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.The information presented is subject to change without notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibilityfor inaccuracies contained herein. Copyright 2011 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved.CPG1076110308 (0 4)

OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks

Documents

Transcript of OAM Convergence in Wireless Networks