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BRINGING SON & SMALL CELLS TOGETHER LTE standardization, have been deployed to manage 3G and HSPA networks as well as LTE rollouts. So what is SON, how does it "work" within a network, and how can SON features be introduced to network equipment in the most cost efficient and flexible manner for operators? SON is a collection of features that, taken together, enable greater automation of network processes and operations. These features are based on algorithms that process data collected from element user and control planes and network and element management systems. The algorithms will produce decisions or recommend actions that are then communicated to the elements themselves. Often these features are arranged into groups or stages. There are the automated "set-up" and configuration features, such as authentication, assignment of cell identity and IP configuration, neighbor cell configuration and neighbor list and relations management, and the establishing of coverage and capacity parameters. Self-optimization includes neighbor list optimization and coverage and capacity control as the element or network adapts to changing network conditions – perhaps the addition of more cells locally, to take a simple example. Self-healing then adds a further stage, introducing features that enable automated fault management, so that a cell can be returned to normal operations following an outage, or period of unplanned interference. This "flow", from pre-deployment planning to configuration, optimization and enhanced network management describes the range of SON features. SON INTRODUCTION: becomes unsustainable when extended to include the installation, provisioning, configuration and ongoing management of hundreds of thousands of 3G, LTE and WiFi enabled small cells in a variety of deployment scenarios. Small cells demand SON as a key enabler of their economic and technical viability. This HetNet complexity – multi-RAT, multi- layer, multi-operator (if including wholesale backhaul links), multi-architecture, multi- vendor – has been a key driver for the introduction of SON technology into network equipment and into the network strategies of mobile operators. As operators meet this HetNet deployment and operational challenge, SON offers the promise of reducing costs in initial rollouts, enabling more effective coordination of time and frequency resources, providing dynamic interference management, and adapting to changing network conditions. It is also for these reasons that SON features, often assumed to be an LTE specific technology because of its place in SON is often, and increasingly, taken to stand for Self-Optimizing Networks, but it is interesting that in the standards bodies the acronym correctly stands for Self-Organizing Networks. The distinction between organization and optimization may seem a slight one, but the word organization is enlightening: thinking in terms of organization reveals the origin of demand for SON within operators. The Self-Organizing Network, as opposed to just a self-optimizing network, is about introducing greater automation in the planning, design, deployment, configuration, management and ongoing radio and power optimization. It is this whole life-cycle requirement that drove original demand for SON, and then the use cases adopted by 3GPP as it first formalised SON features as standards within R8 and R9. This organization/optimization distinction is especially useful if one thinks about the importance of SON as operators integrate small cells into multi-vendor, multi- technology and multi-mode heterogeneous networks (HetNets). The operational model that mobile operators have developed to support the planning, deployment and management of macro networks consisting of a few tens of thousands of macro cells A TMN eBOOK: BRINGING SON AND SMALL CELLS TOGETHER

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