Automatic Neighbor Relation in Self-Organizing Heterogeneous Networks

Abstract

In the contemporary legacy mobile wireless networks, the Network Elements and their associated parameters are manually configured. The manual intervention method to configure and optimize the network parameters in the current mobile networks exhibiting Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) scenario is almost unmanageable for network operators. Self-Organizing Network concept was introduced by 3GPP for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems to achieve a high degree of automation in the planning, configuring and optimizing network parameters.

Physical Cell Identity (PCI) and Neighbor Cell List (NCL) are two key radio configuration parameters that are configured during Dynamic Radio Configuration phase of the self-configuration. This Thesis makes a survey on the standardized PCI and NCL configuration in LTE systems and addresses the challenges in configuring these two radio parameters in HetNet scenarios.

The objective of this Thesis is to perform a survey on the prospect of Automatic Neighbor Relation management in dynamic HetNet scenarios. The new capacity and coverage boosting enhancements that are introduced in 3GPP Rel-11 and on-wards, in particular, energy saving solutions and Active Antenna Systems (AAS) techniques are most probable to create a dynamic network scenarios. This Thesis identifies the potential solutions for energy saving and AAS techniques, and performs the initial impact analysis on the network stability and neighbor relations.