INFORMATION SECURITY IN SELF-ORGANIZED

NETWORK
SUBMITTED BY :-

PRIYANKA RANI - 24400119046

SATYA PRIYA SAHA - 24400119052
SREYA MAZUMDER - 24400119033
ARKOPROVO ROY - 24400119012
INTRODUCTION

A SELF-ORGANIZING NETWORK (SON) IS AN AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY DESIGNED TO MAKE THE

PLANNING, CONFIGURATION, MANAGEMENT, OPTIMIZATION AND HEALING OF MOBILE RADIO
ACCESS NETWORKS SIMPLER AND FASTER. SON FUNCTIONALITY AND BEHAVIOR HAS BEEN
DEFINED AND SPECIFIED IN GENERALLY ACCEPTED MOBILE INDUSTRY RECOMMENDATIONS
PRODUCED BY ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS 3GPP (3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT) AND THE
NGMN (NEXT GENERATION MOBILE NETWORKS).
 SON has been codified within 3GPP Release 8 and subsequent specifications in a series of standards including
36.902,[1] as well as public white papers outlining use cases from the NGMN.[2] The first technology making use
of SON features will be Long Term Evolution (LTE), but the technology has also been retro-fitted to older radio
access technologies such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The LTE specification
inherently supports SON features like Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) detection, which is the 3GPP LTE Rel.
8 flagship feature.
 Newly added base stations should be self-configured in line with a "plug-and-play" paradigm while all operational base
stations will regularly self-optimize parameters and algorithmic behavior in response to observed network performance
and radio conditions. Furthermore, self-healing mechanisms can be triggered to temporarily compensate for a detected
equipment outage, while awaiting a more permanent solution
 Self-organizing Networks features are being introduced gradually with the arrival of new 4G systems in radio access
networks, allowing for the impact of potential ‘teething troubles’ to be limited and gradually increasing confidence. Self-
optimization mechanisms in mobile radio access networks can be seen to have some similarities to automated trading
algorithms in financial markets. SON has also been retrofitted to existing 3G networks to help reduce cost and improve
service reliability.
WHAT DOES A SELF-ORGANIZING NETWORK DO?

 SON can offer a variety of different functions, including self-configuration, self-optimization, self-healing, and self-
protection. These functions are made possible through artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and pre-optimized
software algorithms.
 Self-configuration means the SON automatically recognizes and registers new access points / base stations made part of
the radio access network (RAN). Neighboring radios automatically adjust their emission power and other technical
parameters to avoid interference and maximize both coverage and capacity.
 Self-optimization automatically optimizes base stations’ technical parameters for a specific purpose. For example, a self-
optimizing network could optimize wireless airtime resources to ensure specific service level agreements (SLA) per
device and application groups are maintained at times of congestion, high device density and changing spectrum
availability.
 Self-healing allows the SON to automatically heal itself when base stations fail and connectivity is lost. Self-healing
networks adjust adjacent cells’ parameters to provide continued service—or at least minimize degradation of service—to
affected users.
 Self-protection means the self-organizing network automatically defends itself from penetration by unauthorized users.
The primary goal of self protection is to maintain network security and data confidentiality.
 Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR) helps facilitate smooth signal transitions from cell to cell as a device moves
through a cellular network. Traditionally this has been a very complicated and laborious task for human operators, but
can now be handled through SONs. ANR works constantly to analyze and communicate with neighboring cells to ensure
handovers are timely, reliable, and efficient.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF SELF-ORGANIZING NETWORKS?

 There are three main types of self-organizing networks: distributed, centralized, and hybrid.

 Distributed self-organizing networks relay commands that are distributed across the edge of the network where each node
exchanges information with each other. This type of architecture allows more flexibility than a centralized SON, and
enables the network to respond and see changes on the network more quickly.
 A challenge with this type of network architecture is that each node’s optimization doesn’t always ensure that the
network will improve as a whole since each node acts as its own relay.
 Centralized self-organizing networks’ functions are centralized at higherorder network nodes. Commands, changes,
settings, and requests are distributed directly from the network management console, and then propagated out to each
node.
 This type of SON can easily scan and take in all aspects of the network, allowing the algorithm to make better decisions
regarding optimizations and future configurations.
 A drawback of this configuration is slightly longer response times when compared to a distributed SON, where you tend
to trade a bit of speed for additional control and precision of the network assets.
 Hybrid self-organizing networks are a mix of distributed and centralized SONs. Hybrid environments attempt to strike a
balance between advantages between the approaches, where the network can both quickly respond to changes while
maintaining a centralized method of management.
SELF ORGANIZING NETWORK (SON) USE CASES

 The main benefit of SONs is that their inherent automation reduces the need for costly manual, human attention for
installation and network management. Instead, the network is quicker to install and easier to maintain while providing
higher performance.
 SONs help enhance networks in many ways, even networks that already have in-house IT staff working on the network.
This can help enterprises in by:
 Improving network performance,
 Reducing network downtime,
 Increasing user experience over private cellular networks,
 Reducing overall capital expenditure, and
 Improving IT staff efficiency.