Research And Implementation Of Self Configuration Mechanism And Key Techonology In LTE

Intelligent and automation are key results which have been eagerly to be achieved by the network operators in network maintenance. But under current network architecture condition, software and hardware development limitation, maintenance costs and efficiency so far are not reached a satisfied standard. Traditional 2G/3G network uses manual way to monitor, maintain and optimize network. But with the continuous development of network technology, LTE (Long Term Evolution) as an evolution of 3G technologies is gradually considered by all operators and equipment manufacturers for its high data transferring rate, low latency, packet transport and other characteristics. LTE network architecture is greatly different from traditional network. Its structure is constructed by the evolution NodeB and Access Gateway (AGW). Compared with traditional 3G networks, eNodeB replaced the original NodeB, RNC and other network elements. eNodeBs communicate with each other through X2 interface based on grid (mesh) interconnect method, which makes LTE network as flat structure. Then in the same area covered by the LTE, the required number of eNodeBs is much bigger than the traditional network. With the deployment of LTE, the number of network parameters and structure will become more and more complex. And network maintenance and deployment difficulty also increases with the deployment scale of LTE. If LTE is still using the traditional operation and maintenance method, then LTE operators has to spend much more operating costs (OPEX, Operation Expense).In order to reduce operating costs and manual intervention in maintenance process, improve the efficiency of LTE network maintenance, operators is paying much more attention to research LTE network maintenance in 3GPP, NGMN, the European Union and other research programs, and SON (Self-Organizing Network) is becoming a research hot spot because of its high degree of automation, cost savings and other advantages. SON is a concept proposed by mobile operators in the standardization process of LTE network. Its main idea is to achieve a number of automation features in wireless networks, including self-configuring, self-optimizing and self-healing functions. This article is based on the research of self-configuration of SON, and especially introduces the self-configuration, including the self-configuration functions, deployment models and the whole process of self-configuration. In addition, the physical cell identity, as a key parameter in LTE network, its generation and distribution method is also discussed in self-configuration use cases. This paper implements both centralized and distributed PCI assignment method. Besides, analyzes the efficiency and time cost of this use case. And finally, summarizes the advantages and disadvantages for each method and gives the network circumstances which are suitable for each method.