Ideas for managing the growth and complexity of public-safety LTE networks
Improving RAN performance has become a necessary evil, as 70% of subscriber issues now occur inside the RAN, and at least 10% of those problems cannot be resolved with existing monitoring workflows. By using the latest network intelligence tools, operators can unlock the potential of mobile geoanalytics for the first time and optimize their LTE networks to better deal with increasing mobile-data demands, thereby delivering better quality of service (QoS) overall.
Having access to a real-time, holistic view—along with historical data to set expectations of network performance—also gives network operators the ability to identify traffic hotspots, which is even more important when it comes to public safety.
As first responders continue to migrate from 3G to 4G and consume more data, it has become essential to identify network pain points, learn where there is excess capacity, and understand what equipment types are experiencing the most issues. These insights make it possible for PSN operators to make smarter decisions and minimize infrastructure expenditure.
This second point is very timely, particularly now that operators have invested great sums in rolling out 4G LTE and are desperate to see a return on their significant investment by keeping network costs down but QoS high.
Drive testing—the legacy solution for tracking network coverage—is an inefficient method to collect network coverage data, particularly in the vast world of public safety. Plus, the data quickly becomes outdated over time, as new problems arise and the networks evolve. The lack of real-time reporting ensures huge gaps in operators’ knowledge and limits the ability to implement technologies such as self-optimizing networks (SON).
Armed with network-usage data and full network visualization, PSN operators can dynamically pinpoint issues at the user and device levels in real time, track those issues across the network, optimize accordingly and identify network congestion and device issues as they happen. By having a complete end-to-end view of what’s happening, user data pulled from the RAN can be used to ensure mobile networks are more resilient than before.
This has never been more important, particularly as deep network intelligence will help operators make some of the most important operational, tactical or strategic decisions in the immediate future. Currently, most usual information all too often remains hidden deep within the network.
While it looks like states and localities will have to wait until 2015 to gain a clearer understanding of the cost to participate in the public-safety broadband network, they can start understanding the network today. By unlocking the value of user data contained within the RAN, studying traffic patterns, identifying network interference and tracking dropped calls, PSNs will be in a better position than ever before to provide the highest levels of voice and data communications, including onsite streaming video.
Marc Bensadoun is CEO of Newfield Wireless, a Tektronix Communications company. He led the company from its 1995 beginnings in network modelling and RAN consulting services to the addition of a software products group in 2003. TrueCall®, the company’s flagship RAN geoanalytics platform, was introduced in 2005 and unlocks rich user experience and location data enabling mobile operators to optimize mobile network performance and subscriber experience, maximize service assurance, reduce network costs, monetize subscriber data and optimally plan network investments. For more information, visit NewfieldWireless.com.