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Ideas for managing the growth and complexity of public-safety LTE networks(Urgent Communications Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) By Marc Bensadoun, Newfield Wireless CEOMobile usage has exploded in recent years, which leaves carriers fighting a constant battle to deal with growing wireless traffic, especially when it comes to mobile data. Many are choosing to deploy new macro cells, expand their rollouts of 4G technologies and acquire more spectrum to deal with the problem. Yet this isn’t always enough; cells still become overloaded by a small proportion of heavy users, creating an inconsistent and poor-quality experience for the masses. This situation isn’t acceptable at the best of times in the commercial arena—particularly as the average subscriber is all too willing to swap service providers, if they experience a less-than-stellar connection—but it’s an even bigger concern when it comes to public safety. Today, 4G networks and mobile broadband technologies are widely available for public-safety matters, giving officials a platform for unprecedented access to real-time information, images and video anywhere and at any time. Embodied by efforts such as the NTIA’s FirstNet and fueled by open standards, LTE has the potential to become a state-of-the-art public-safety communication solution for protecting first responders and the communities they serve. FirstNet is responsible for providing emergency responders with the first high-speed, nationwide network dedicated to public safety. It is a multi-faceted program for many reasons, including the facts that operators must address concerns over network quality before it can become a reality and that each state and locality will need to have a Radio Access Network (RAN) that will connect to FirstNet's network core within a structure that has not yet been defined. In addition, FirstNet has to provide mechanisms for prioritization based on users and devices. It’s a huge undertaking. Planning and building a radio access network is the most capital-intensive part of building a network. That’s a whole separate discussion. After the planning is completed, the priority shifts to system optimization. While LTE represents great promise in this environment, it also represents a greater challenge than 3G and other technologies ever did. From spectrum issues to roaming requirements, from device and network vendor selection to network technology options, the level of complexity operators face has resulted in considerable technical and financial hurdles in LTE networks today that have led to less-than-consistent network performance. Yet, in our modern hyper-connected world, there is a greater need than ever for real-time mobile communications to stand up to scrutiny. Average users are now less forgiving of dropped calls or undelivered messages. Public-safety officials will demand an even better level of connectivity, because a delay or poor service can pose a threat to safety. It comes as no surprise that there has long been concern over the use of LTE networks for communication in a crisis. However, operators are now in a position to tackle this issue head on by implementing end-to-end service assurance and optimization tools that cover the entire network, from the radio access network (RAN) to the core. When it comes to LTE, optimizing the RAN for voice and messaging is no longer sufficient; traffic patterns are changing, and operators need ongoing, real-time intelligence about what is happening at the network edge. Because of this, RAN management and optimization have become vital to deliver the potential of LTE, as the RAN holds the key to ensuring quality network performance for subscribers and, in turn, public-safety officials. Improving RAN performance does come with its own challenges. Historically, it has been a very costly exercise for traditional carriers, and now it will impact private public-safety network (PSN) operators, too. Ideas for managing the growth and complexity of public-safety LTE networksImproving RAN performance has become a necessary evil, as 70% of subscriber issues now occur inside the RAN, and at least 10% of those problems cannot be resolved with existing monitoring workflows. By using the latest network intelligence tools, operators can unlock the potential of mobile geoanalytics for the first time and optimize their LTE networks to better deal with increasing mobile-data demands, thereby delivering better quality of service (QoS) overall. Having access to a real-time, holistic view—along with historical data to set expectations of network performance—also gives network operators the ability to identify traffic hotspots, which is even more important when it comes to public safety. As first responders continue to migrate from 3G to 4G and consume more data, it has become essential to identify network pain points, learn where there is excess capacity, and understand what equipment types are experiencing the most issues. These insights make it possible for PSN operators to make smarter decisions and minimize infrastructure expenditure. This second point is very timely, particularly now that operators have invested great sums in rolling out 4G LTE and are desperate to see a return on their significant investment by keeping network costs down but QoS high. Drive testing—the legacy solution for tracking network coverage—is an inefficient method to collect network coverage data, particularly in the vast world of public safety. Plus, the data quickly becomes outdated over time, as new problems arise and the networks evolve. The lack of real-time reporting ensures huge gaps in operators’ knowledge and limits the ability to implement technologies such as self-optimizing networks (SON). Armed with network-usage data and full network visualization, PSN operators can dynamically pinpoint issues at the user and device levels in real time, track those issues across the network, optimize accordingly and identify network congestion and device issues as they happen. By having a complete end-to-end view of what’s happening, user data pulled from the RAN can be used to ensure mobile networks are more resilient than before. This has never been more important, particularly as deep network intelligence will help operators make some of the most important operational, tactical or strategic decisions in the immediate future. Currently, most usual information all too often remains hidden deep within the network. While it looks like states and localities will have to wait until 2015 to gain a clearer understanding of the cost to participate in the public-safety broadband network, they can start understanding the network today. By unlocking the value of user data contained within the RAN, studying traffic patterns, identifying network interference and tracking dropped calls, PSNs will be in a better position than ever before to provide the highest levels of voice and data communications, including onsite streaming video. Marc Bensadoun is CEO of Newfield Wireless, a Tektronix Communications company. He led the company from its 1995 beginnings in network modelling and RAN consulting services to the addition of a software products group in 2003. TrueCall®, the company’s flagship RAN geoanalytics platform, was introduced in 2005 and unlocks rich user experience and location data enabling mobile operators to optimize mobile network performance and subscriber experience, maximize service assurance, reduce network costs, monetize subscriber data and optimally plan network investments. For more information, visit NewfieldWireless.com. © 2014 Penton Media |