NEC Corp. (NEC) has developed what is said to be the world's first three-dimensional (3D) Self Organizing Network (SON) simulator that checks the feasibility of SON, which is expected to play a key role in the autonomous optimization of networks.
NEC conducted a trial SON simulation for LTE with 25 base stations in a 6km² central area of Yokohama, Japan, where it was confirmed that the base stations' handover configurations were automatically optimized and dropped calls were prevented. It was also confirmed that base station energy consumption was saved, without degrading communication quality, through implementation of an autonomous sleep control that responded to the hour of the day.
SON networks collect and analyze data from operational base stations and user terminals in order to measure the quality of network data, such as radio signal levels and data throughput, and then autonomously adjust configurations, such as transmission power. For mobile network operators, SON networks are expected to significantly reduce the frequency of field surveys, including radio quality tests that require dedicated measurement instruments, and improve network quality.
NEC has developed the 3D Simulator for LTE SON in order to verify the effectiveness of SON in urban settings by evaluating LTE system performance amid 3D radio propagation.
The simulator quickly and accurately predicts 3D radio propagation characteristics in urban environments, while taking radio wave reflection and diffraction by terrain and buildings into account. The use of 3D radio propagation estimates enables the impact of wireless dead spots in the upper floors of high-rise buildings to be accurately evaluated. Moreover, the simulator makes it possible to evaluate SON in more realistic radio propagation conditions than conventional mobile network system simulations that use regular cell layout and simplified radio propagation models.
The simulator automatically generates user mobility models based on urban features that include road width, intersection geometry, building size and number. Using these user mobility models, handover performance is evaluated under real urban transportation conditions, and base station workloads are calculated according to user density. The simulator evaluates SON based on these realistic user mobility conditions to reach conclusions that are more accurate than conventional user mobility models that randomly estimate individuals' movements.
NEC's 3D Simulator
NEC
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