With the current explosion in network traffic, and mounting pressure on operators' business case, Self-Organizing Networks (SON) play a crucial role. They are conceived to minimize human intervention in engineering processes and at the same time improve system performance to maximize Return-on-Investment (ROI) and secure customer loyalty. Written by leading experts in the planning and optimization of Multi-Technology and Multi-Vendor wireless networks, this book describes the architecture of Multi-Technology SON for GSM, UMTS and LTE, along with the enabling technologies for SON planning, optimization and healing. This is presented mainly from a technology point of view, but also covers some critical business aspects, such as the ROI of the proposed SON functionalities and Use Cases. Key features: • Follows a truly Multi-Technology approach: covering not only LTE, but also GSM and UMTS, including architectural considerations of deploying SON in today's GSM and UMTS networks • Features detailed discussions about the relevant trade-offs in each Use Case • Includes field results of today's GSM and UMTS SON implementations in live networks • Addresses the calculation of ROI for Multi-Technology SON, contributing to a more complete and strategic view of the SON paradigm This book will appeal to network planners, optimization engineers, technical/strategy managers with operators and R&D/system engineers at infrastructure and software vendors. It will also be a useful resource for postgraduate students and researchers in automated wireless network planning and optimization.
