Automatic Re-planning of Tracking Areas

Matas Toril
Communications Engineering Dept., University of Mlaga, Spain (mtoril@ic.uma.es) Karlsruhe, 22 Feb 2011 FP7 SOCRATES Final Workshop on Self-Organisation in Mobile Networks

24/10/2005

(co-located with IWSOS 2011)

Outline
1 The tracking area re-planning problem p formulation 2 Graph-theoretic 3 Solution method 4 Performance analysis 5 Conclusions

Outline
Intro TA LA

The tracking area re-planning problem

Location area planning in legacy networks State of research and technology
FOR

2 Graph-theoretic formulation
SOL

3 Solution method 4 Performance analysis

ANA

5 Conclusions C l i
CON

The tracking area planning problem

Cellular network structuring
Intro TA LA

BSC
PCU PCU PCU

FOR

MSC/SGSN

LA

LA/RA BSC
PCU PCU PCU

LA/RA BSC PCU PCU Site BTS BTS BTS Site BTS BSC PCU Site BTS BTS BTS

SOL

BSC PCU Site BTS BTS BTS Site BTS

ANA

LA

Site BTS BTS BTS

CON

The tracking area planning problem

Location i management in i current cellular ll l networks k
Know location/state of mobiles and direct mobile terminated calls Purpose Algorithm Location update and paging (based on location/paging areas)
Intro TA LA

Problem

Trade-off in location area size

Many small LAs more LUs (i.e., DCCH capacity, load in databases) Few large LAs more paging requests (i.e., (i e PCH capacity)

FOR

Solutions

1) Alternative LU/paging algorithms

LU (time/distance-based, groupal), paging (selective)

SOL

2) Optimise size/shape of LAs

Minimise total #LUs while keeping # paging messages per LA small
LA #1 LA #2 LU req. [DCCH] BTS BSC MSC Definition of LAs Paging algorithm BSS TMSI/LAC+CI VLR HLR CN

ANA

PG req. [PCH] [ ] LA border MS

CON

The tracking area planning problem

State of research and technology
Current practice 9 LA plan with BSC (instead of BTS) resolution 9 1 LA 1 BSC Many small LAs
FOR Intro TA LA

many mobility LUs

large DCCH traf.

e.g., In GERAN, 50% of SDCCH attempts are LUs 12% of network capacity reserved for SDCCH
SOL

9 Changes in LA plan only as a result of BSC splitting event

BSC

C Constraint t i t that th t BSCs BSC in i the th same LA belong b l t the to th same MSC Changes in LA plan lead to temporary congestion of DCCH in affected cells
ANA
BSC
LA/RA BSC PCU Site BTS BTS BTS Site BTS PCU Site BTS BTS BTS Site BTS BTS BTS MSC/SGSN LA/RA BSC PCU Site BTS BSC PCU Site BTS BTS BTS

CON

The tracking area planning problem

St t of State f research h and d technology t h l
New drivers
9 Changes in vendor equipment 9 New network algorithms 9 Interest on SON LA borders can now cross MSC borders Overlapping TAs [3GPP rel. 7], tracking area list [3GPP rel. 8] NGMN [SON use cases, O&M requirements], 3GPP [Rel. 8/9 LTE]
FOR Intro TA LA

Related R l t d work k
9 Graph partitioning Local refinement [Plehn 95], integer programming [Tcha 97], SOL genetic algorithm [Gondim 96], simulated annealing [Demirkol 04], linear programming [Bejerano 06], set covering [Lo 04] TA list [Modarres 09] , TA overlapping [Varsamopoulos 04] Trade-off signalling versus reconfiguration cost [Modarres 09] Adjustment of TA overlapping [Varsamopoulos 04]
ANA

9 New network algorithms 9 Dynamic adaptation

Main contributions
9 Re-formulation of TA planning as a classical graph partitioning problem 9 Method h d to optimise TAs frequently f l based b d on statistics in the h network k management How often? Which changes? Potential impact on network signalling?
CON

Graph-theoretic formulation
1 The tracking area re-planning problem in GERAN 2 Graph-theoretic formulation
Nave formulation Adapted advanced formulation
SOL FOR ALG TA

3 Proposed method 4 Performance analysis 5 Conclusions

ANA

CON

Graph-theoretic formulation
Nave formulation
LA 1 PCU 1 LA 2 PCU 2

TA

1 5
Cell 5

FOR ALG
12 2
Cell 2

15 14

Cell 1

Network model

45

4
Cell 4

34

3
Cell 3

23

SOL

Network area optimised:

9 9

ANA

Traditionally 1 MSC/VLR Currently 1 NMS Optimisation model d l

(TAP) Minimise subject to

CON

Graph-theoretic formulation
Adapted advanced formulation
1) Paging cost in objective function 2) Paging cost term paging constraint term 3) Time dependence
LU-to-HO Paging-to-LU cost ratio ratio FOR ALG TA

SOL

ij '
(TAP) Minimise subject to

(s) c( ) 11 S + c[t (j )+ i + c ( + ) SS r c ( + ]+ ) 1 S [t ]j) (r(rr )( ) ) r S + )+ + c c ( + ) + ) (1 + ) 1 S )( ( ) ) ( ) ij ic i i+ i ijj( (j,i i) , ji ) j E j ) E () ,,..., V V i ( i , j( ) ( ( , j ) i(,ti E 1 k) (i , j ) (V1 ,...,Vk ) ( i ,i j ) i
(s) (s) (s) (s )( s) [t ]ij ij [ t ] [t ] ij i j i j ij i ij ij i j i j ij ijij ij

ANA

V ii V
n n

( pk ( pk ) ) [t ] aw i i

< B < Baw

CON

10

The assignment of PCUs in GERAN

1 The location area re-planning problem in GERAN 2 Graph-theoretic formulation
FOR TA

3 Solution method
Proposed methodology Classical graph partitioning algorithms Graph resolution
SOL MOD

4 Performance analysis 5 Conclusions

ANA

CON

11

Solution method
Goals 1) Keep the number of TA re-plans as small as possible 2) Minimise impact of changing the TA plan 3) Minimise network signalling cost when re-planning re planning TAs Proposed methodology
1) Define time granularity for measurements hour, day, week 2) Collect network stats in several periods 3) Build network graphs HO, LU, CS traffic, total/peak paging
(s) k) ij , i( s ) , i( pk
ANA SOL FOR TA

4) Compute graph correlation between periods (u , v) 5) ) Identify d f correlated l d measurement periods d 6) Compute TA plan for correlated periods in a row from past periods 7) Select re-configuration instant 8) Estimate users affected by changes Clustering Cl algorithm l h (e.g., ( k-means) ) Classical graph partitioning algorithm (e.g., ML refinement)

CON

Low impact on control channels (e.g., night)

i( c )

(e.g., from traffic distribution)

12

Solution method
Graph correlation
Definitions
G (2)

TA

= [ ij ] (i, j ) E = [i ] i V = [ ] (i, j ) E , i V
1 |E| s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v) (u , v) = | E | s =1 (u ) (v) 1 |V | s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v) (u, v) = | V | s =1 (u ) (v)
30

G (1)

FOR

G (0)

SOL
1 0.99 25

0.98

20

0.97

ANA

15 0.96

(u , v) =

| E | + |V |
s =1

| E |+|V |

s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v) ( u ) ( v )

10

0.95

0.94

CON

10

15

20

25

30

0.93

Graph correlation coefficient and clusters

13

Solution method
Classical graph partitioning algorithms
Refinement algorithms
9 Greedy G d algorithm l ith (GR) 9 Kernighan-Lin algorithm (KL) 9 Fiduccia-Mattheyses algorithm (FM) * Example: k=2, Baw=9
-3 -3 -3 -3 -1 -3 +1 -1 -3

TA

Multi-level refinement
9 9 9 C Coarsening i algorithm l ith Initial partitioning Uncoarsening algorithm
SOL MOD
-1 -1 +1 -3 -3

FOR

G(0)

G(0)

-2 -2 -2 -2 +2 -2 -2 0

-3 -5 -3 -1 -1 -3 +1

-1 +1 -1 -3 +1 -1 -3 -3 -3 -3

+2 -2 -2 0 0 +2 -2 -2 -2 -2

G(1)

G(1)

ANA Uncoarsening CON

Coarsening
-3 -1 -1 -3 +1 -1 +1 +1 -3 -1 -1 -3 -1 -3 -3 -3

G(2)

G(2)

4 Step 7 3 Step 1 5 6 0 8 Step 2

m) G(

Fiduccia-Mattheyses

Initial partitioning

14

Solution method
Classical graph partitioning algorithms
Adaptive multi-start Multi-level evolutionary biasing (EB)
FOR
E Edge-cut

TA

SOL MOD
Distance from global optimum

Greedy y Graph p Growing g Partitioning g

Random Greedy y Graph p Growing g Partitioning g

700000 Minimum value Optimal value 600000 600000 700000

Clustered Adaptive p Multi-Start

Minimum value Optimal value

ANA

Edge-cu ut Edge-cu t

500000

Edge-cut t Edge-cu ut

500000

400000

400000

Floyd-Warshal G d G Greedy Graph hG Growing i Partitioning P titi i

300000

300000

CON
0 1 500 1000 1000

0 1

500

1000 1000

Nbr. of attempts

Nbr. of attempts

Single attempt

Naive Multi-Start

Adaptive Multi-Start

15

Solution method
Graph resolution
BSC vs BTS
FOR BSC-level graph
Sorted Heavy Edge Matching

TA

SOL MOD

Site-level graph ANA

Site Matching

Cell-level graph g p

CON

16

Performance analysis
1 The tracking area re-planning problem 2 Graph-theoretic formulation 3 Solution method 4 Performance analysis
Analysis set-up Analysis A l i results lt
SOL FOR TA

5 Conclusions

ANA

CON

17

Performance analysis
Analysis set-up
Goal
Check time correlation of graphs in a real GERAN network Estimate benefit of different LA re-plan approaches in a real network Check number of changes and population ratio affected by LA changes
FOR TA

Scenario Methodology

1 NMS ( (5498 BTSs, 54 BSCs, 50 LAs) ) 0) Read NMS data of 4 weeks 1) Build BSC-level graphs 2) Compute graph correlation 2 weeks + 2 weeks one month later HO [ij], paging/CS/LU [i( s ) , i( pk ) , i( c ) ]
SOL

(u , v)

3) Define periods of high correlation k-means clustering ) Co Compute pute LA p plans a s 4) ML e evolutionary o ut o a y b biasing, as g, Baw=400000 00000

ANA

Initial operator solution (k=50) Overall, daily, periodic (perfect estimation, imperfect estimation, CON imperfect estimation with local optimisation)

Criteria

Total edge cut Total number/weight i

(c)

( Overall network signalling cost) of changes ( Nbr. of BSCs/users changing LA)

18

Performance analysis
Analysis set-up
Network area
FOR TA

SOL

ANA

CON Cell-level graph BSC-level graph

19

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Graph correlation: BTS level
Vertex weight
1

TA

Edge weight
1

FOR

25 0.95

25 0.95 20
0.9

20

SOL
0.9

15 0.85

15 0.85

10 08 0.8

10

ANA

0.8
5 0.75 5 10 15 20 25

10

15

20

25

CON

(u , v) =

1 |V | s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v) | V | s =1 (v) (u )

(u , v) =

1 |E| s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v ) | E | s =1 (v) (u )

20

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Graph correlation: BSC level
Vertex weight
1

TA

Edge weight
1 0.995

FOR

25

0.95

25 0.99

20

0.9

20

0.985 0.98

SOL

0.85 15 0.8 10 0 75 0.75 5 0.7

5 10 15

0.975 0.97 0.965 0.96 0.955 0.95

ANA

10

15

20

25

10

15

20

25

CON

1 |V | s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v) (u , v) = | V | s =1 (v) (u )

1 |E| s (u ) s (u ) s (v) s (v ) (u , v) = | E | s =1 (v) (u )

21

Performance analysis
A l i results Analysis lt
Automatic clustering of measurement periods 9 K-means
K

TA

arg min
C
s =1

(1 ( ,2 s ))2 d ( , s) C
s

FOR

K=1 1

K=2 SOL

K=3

K=4

K=5

K=6

ANA

K=7
5 10 15 20 25

K=8
5 10 15 20 25

CON

Separate plan for business days and weekends

22

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods
5,00

TA

operator vs overall optimised solution

FOR
opsolution

4,00

overall

Sign nalling cost

3,00

SOL

2,00

1,00

ANA
0,00 ,
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

Time

Si Signalling lli cost t more than th halved h l d by b merging i LAs LA

CON

23

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods
1,80 1,70 1,60 1,50 1,40 1,30 1 20 1,20
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

TA

overall vs daily optimised solution

overall daily

FOR

Signallin ng cost

SOL

50

overall
[BSCs] Nbr. of changes [ N
40

daily

ANA

30

20

Too many changes in the network

CON

10

0
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Mon Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

Time

24

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods
1,80 1,70 1,60 1,50 1,40 1,30 1 20 1,20
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

TA

overall vs daily optimised solution

overall daily

FOR

Signallin ng cost

SOL

overall
0,8

daily

ANA

Population ratio o

0,6

0,4

02 0,2

Too many users affected by changes g frequently q y

Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Mon Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

CON

Time

25

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods
1,80 1,70 1,60 1,50 1,40 1,30 1 20 1,20

TA

daily vs period
overall daily period

FOR

Signallin ng cost

Period-based Period based method achieves near-optimal SOL performance

Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

50

overall
Nbr. of changes [BSCs] N
40

daily period

ANA

30

20

10

with less changes in the network

CON

0
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Mon Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

Time

26

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods
1,80 1,70 1,60 1,50 1,40 1,30 1,20 ,
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

TA

perfect vs imperfect estimation

overall daily period period est

FOR

Signalli ing cost

Estimation errors might lead to forbidden solutions 1 week is not enough g for predicting

SOL

50

overall
Nbr. of changes [BSCs]
40

daily period

ANA

30

period est

20

CON
10 0
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Mon Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

Time

27

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods perfect vs imperfect estimation with overload factor
1,80

TA

overall
1,70 1,60 1,50 1,40 1,30 1,20
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

i( pk ) = r i( pk )
'

daily period period est (r=1.05)

FOR

Signalling cost

Building estimates from several week is better than using overload factor
overall

SOL

50

Nbr. of changes [BSCs] N

40

daily period

ANA

30

period est (r=1.05)

20

CON
10

0
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Mon Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

Time

28

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods local optimisation process
1,80

TA

overall
1,70 1,60 1,50 , 1,40 1,30 1 20 1,20
Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

FOR

daily period period est (r=1.05) period est opt (r=1.05)

Signallin ng cost

Some benefit from displacing changes

overall

SOL

50

Nbr. of changes [ N [BSCs]

40

daily period est (r=1.05) period est opt (r=1.05)

ANA

30

20

10

but increasing the frequency of changes.

Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Mon Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun Sat Fri Thu Wed Tue Mon Sun

CON

Time

29

Performance analysis
Analysis results
Comparison of methods
1,7 overall daily period
1,7 overall daily

TA

FOR

period

Avg. sig gnalling cost

period est period est (r=1.05) period est opt 1,6

Avg. sig gnalling cost

period est period est (r=1.05) 1,6 period est opt

SOL

ANA
1,5 0 5 10 15

1,5 0 0,1 0,2 0,3

Avg. nbr. of changes [BSCs]

Avg. population ratio affected by changes

CON

Period-based TA optimisation has the best trade-off between signalling cost and number of changes

30

Conclusions
1 The tracking area re-planning problem 2 Graph-theoretic formulation 3 Solution method 4 Performance analysis
SOL FOR TA

5 Conclusions
Main results Open issues
ANA

CON

31

Conclusions
Main results
Problem formulation 9 Possible to use commercial partitioning packages for TA planning problem Graph correlation 9 Network N t k graphs h show h hi h correlation high l ti between b t b i business d days or week-ends k d 9 Correlation becomes smaller as time goes by 9 Graph correlation coefficient can be used to detect need for re-planning Solution method 9 Most of the benefit of TA re-planning is obtained by changing plan twice a week 9 Need for averaging measurements over several weeks to build reliable graphs
ANA SOL FOR TA

Open issues
New TA concepts

CON

TA list, overlapping TAs

Dynamic approaches Reactive (e.g., problem-triggered) method

32