Analysis of NGMN Requirements

REQ 4: LTE Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR)

and Self Organizing Networks (SON) Operation

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LTE Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR)

Related 3GPP SA5 specifications

• TS 32.511
• TS 32.762/763/765

Current Status of the specifications

• The Automatic Neighbor Relations related specifications have
been completed in Rel-9. This is tied closely to the RAN
specifications and any changes/enhancements will be closely
worked together with the RAN groups.
• Automatic Neighbor relations are supported with planning tools
for initial neighbor assignment (optional), automatic discovery
in the node using UE measurements and mechanism for the
operator to control the neighbor relations using blacklisting and
whitelisting.

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 LTE Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR)

Requirements Existing 3GPP Standards Status

Operator expect from ANR within Intra-LTE, Inter LTE and 3GPP SA5 spec 32.511 along with
Inter-RAT for all handover types: RAN 3 spec 36.300 provide
Full substitution of initial planning of relationships based on complete automation for
planning tools; discovering neighbor relations
Automatic configuration of neighbor relationships inclusive eliminating the need for planning
setup of related X2 interfaces; tools.
Automatic optimization of neighbor relationships

EMS and OSS should provide a general ANR monitoring & 3GPP SA5 spec 32.511, 32.762.
control application covering policy control, history log and History logs over Itf-N needs to
switch on/off functionality per site and cell. be explicitly addressed in the req
in future releases.
Conditional lists in form of white and black lists as defined by 3GPP SA5 spec 32.511, 32.762
3GPP shall be stored and configurable within the configuration
application / EMS and OSS platform. These lists can be read
and configured via the northbound interface in operator’s
network management level. The ANR functionality informs
directly new identified neighbors to the EMS and the OSS.

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 LTE Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR)

Requirements Existing 3GPP Standards Status

Neighbor cell lists shall be autonomously configured and 3GPP SA5 spec 32.511 along with
optimized by the system based on UE measurements RAN 3 spec 36.300 provide
according to 3GPP’s ANR, with user setting options like: complete automation for
which UE measurements to use for cell list optimization, discovering neighbor relations.
forbidden adjacency relations, no handover & no remove
attributes, etc.
ANR functionality is expected in a way that following 3GPP SA5 spec 32.511 along with
handover procedure can be done directly after or “on the fly”. RAN 3 spec 36.300 provide
This means that the time for relationship identification and complete automation for
configuration inclusive setup of X2 is minimized on less than discovering neighbor relations.
2 seconds.

The system shall support specific ANR measurements and its
configuration separated from specific HO measurements to
enable early relationship identification. Target of this is to
ensure that the relationship configuration time does not
endanger the successful following handover.
There are measurements defined
and thresholds for triggering the
collection and transfer of
information. These are defined in
RAN spec 36.331. SA5 spec 32.432,
435 specifies exactly how these are
collected and transferred.

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 LTE Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR)
Requirements Existing 3GPP Standards Status
For LTE->3G and LTE->2G neighbor relation configuration some This is planning information via
pre-planned information via northbound interface or available planning tools over Itf-N. No
information in a Multi-RAT system (like given relations of different form what was done in
collocated cells, scrambling codes or ARFCN of likely neighbors) 3G.
can be used to mitigate side-effects of time consuming UE
measurements in an efficient way .
Network and Management System support for Automatic X2- Available in RAN spec 36.331.
Setup based on handover-relations. The mechanism to notify the
discovery of new X2 interfaces is
defined in 32.762.
Network and Management System to be able to configure / manage 32.511, 32.762
"no X2 flag", "no remove flag" and "no HO flag" (as opposed to
eNodeB only per 3GPP
Due to missing standardized ANR functionality for the direction Our current NRM has all the
from 3G or 2G to LTE the system shall support neighbor relation relations defined. This is planning
planning for these directions. Future standardization to cover multi information via planning tools
vendor scenarios is asked for. The exchange of neighbor relation above Itf-N. No different form
lists from planning tools or other EMS via northbound interface what was done in 3G.
shall be supported. Within the Multi-RAT system of one supplier
the different RAT neighbor relation information shall be considered
to achieve automatic neighbor relations also for 3G->LTE and 2G-
>LTE directions of time consuming UE measurements in an
efficient way.
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SON Operation
Related 3GPP SA5 specifications
• TS 32.500
• TS 32.501/502/503/505
• TS 32.521/522/523/525
• TS 32.762/763/765

Current Status of the specifications

• The SON self configuration specifications were completed in
Rel-8.
• The SON policy management specifications were completed in
Rel-9.
• The OAM support for Load Balancing and Handover Parameter
Optimization is provided in Rel-9.

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 SON Operation in 3GPP standards
<<names>>

<<InformationObjectClass>>
<<InformationObjectClass>>
SubNetwork <<names>> SONTargets
(from T S 32.622)
1 1 0..1

1
<<names>> 1 <<names>>
0..1 0..*
<<InformationObjectClass>>
<<InformationObjectClass>> ManagedElement
SONControl XOR (from T S 32.622)

0..1 1
<<names>>
<<names>> 0..*
1 <<InformationObjectClass>>
<<names>> <<InformationObjectClass>>
ENBFunction
SONTargets
(from T S 32.762)
1 0..1

1
<<names>>
0..*
<<InformationObjectClass>>
<<InformationObjectClass>>
EUtranGenericCell <<names>>
SONTargets
(from TS 32.762)
1 0..1

Cell view of SON Policy NRM

• Operator is able to configure the SONTargets policy on subnetwork/eNodeB/cell

basis.
• Operator is able to configure the SONControl on subnetwork/eNodeB basis.

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 SON Operation
Requirements
SON functionality /
capability shall have
controlled implementation in
order to build trust and
confidence in automation
and avoid massive
operational impact
Network and Management
System should provide a
general SON Monitoring &
Control Application
covering policy control,
history log and switch on/off
functionality per site and
cell
Existing 3GPP Standards Status
1. For control of self-configuration, SA5 standardized support of stop
point configuration in TS 32.50x series which allows operator to
configure the stop point and control the self configuration process.
2. For control of self-optimization, SA5 standardized support of
SONTargets / SONControl in TS 32.52x series which allows operator
to configure targets and switch on/off the SON functions when
needed.
3. For control of ANR, SA5 standardized support of
isRemoveAllowed/isHOAllowed/
isICICInformationSendAllowed/ isLBAllowed
in TS 32.76x series which allow operator to control the HO/ICIC/LB.
1. For control of self-optimization, SA5 standardized support of policy
management on SONTargets / SONControl (TS 32.52x series).
2. SONTargets management allows operator to configure targets on a
per subnetwork /eNodeB /cell basis.
3. For switch on/off of the SON functions, SA5 standard allows
operator to configure on a per subnetwork/ eNodeB basis.
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 SON Operation
Requirements
SON centralized and distributed
approach must be supported
(depending on the SON use case)
Network and Management System
should provide possibility to
configure certain break points for
SON Operations, allowing the
operator for manual intervention to
proceed with the logic, or to halt /
abort it
Network and Management System
shall be synchronized in real time
with SON initiated network changes.
Notifications shall also be available
real-time via the CM Northbound
Interfaces to NMS
Network and Management System
should provide a valuable Reporting
Suite for SON activities
Existing 3GPP Standards Status
It was decided that load balancing and handover
optimization will adopt distributed approach. The adopted
architecture has also been mentioned in TS 32.522.
1. Self configuration: the existing specification allows
operators to configure stop points for controlling the self
configuration procedures. （TS 32.50x series)
2. There is no break point mechanism for other SON
functionalities.
Existing kernelCMIRP supports the requirements with
standardized notification
(notifyAttributeValueChange/notifyObjectCreation/notifyO
bjectDeletion) (TS 32.662)
NMS Implementation related, not applicable for itf-N.
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 SON Operation
Requirements
Network and Management System shall fully
support SON as defined in 3GPP standards,
inclusive CM Northbound Interface 3GPP
BulkCM IRP (CORBA or SOAP based)
Provide an open Northbound Interface for all
SON related parameters for interoperability with
3rd party tools
Network and Management System should be
able to request or report the SON related
changes for statistical analysis and historical
view
It shall be possible to customize SON policies.
On the one hand, there shall be flexibility to
adjust the SON functionality to the Operator's
requirements. On the other hand, customization
shall be a simple process to minimize the
manual effort required.
Existing 3GPP Standards Status
NMS implementation related, not applicable for
Itf-N.
The purpose of NRM IRP and Interface IRP,
operated across Itf-N, supports the
interoperability mentioned.
The existing Notification can differentiate the
source of the operation (Resource_operation,
Management_operation, SON_operation) (TS
32.662)
Supported by SON policy management series
specification (TS 32.52x), Operator can
configure different targets and also can switch
on/off according to operator’s requirements.
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