IST CAUTION++ Capacity and network management platform for increased utilization of wireless
systems of next generation++
Project duration: 30 months
List of IST Action Lines: IV5.2, IV5.1
List of IST Clusters: Systems Beyond 3G, Re-configurability, LOBSTER
CAUTION++
Main Objective
The main objective of the project is the smooth transition from existing wireless systems to new generation ones.
CAUTION++ will exploit knowledge and system platform developed under the framework of CAUTION project and
extend this to UMTS and systems beyond. The main goal of this project is to design and develop a novel,
low cost, flexible, highly efficient and scaleable system able to be utilized by mobile operators to
increase the performance of all network segments. It has been proved that GSM (including HSCSD, GPRS) is
underutilized and definitely not optimized. In CAUTION project, an architecture which is based on the concept
“monitor and manage” is developed to support systems of present generation. The project faces the new
deployment and operation challenges posed by new generation systems in contrast to those in existing ones,
exploiting the new possibilities to provide enhanced capacity, quality and reduced costs. The CAUTION system
exploits management and billing reports in a way to construct a radio resource matrix. All resources at the airinterface are monitored and an additional centralized system receives alarms from the distributed monitoring
components, so that a set of management techniques is selected and applied where needed. Obviously knowledge
management mechanisms are used to fine-tune the selected management techniques. In CAUTION++ this is
extended to next generation systems. The goal is not only to monitor UTRA resources, but to have a distributed
monitoring of a large number of systems-including WLAN, even from different operators. In CAUTION++, not only
the radio resources are monitored, but also business models are considered for the efficient use of the available
networks. These models mainly describe the efficient network selection, according to the type of user, the type of
application and even the user’s location. Finally, the decisions-making component will communicate with all
networks and execute mechanisms in to have the optimum trade-off of resources, utilization and cost.
The objectives of CAUTION++ project can be summarized as follows:
• Optimize cellular systems in terms of network performance
• Consider business models for low-cost communication
• Combine user-location information with network performance data for increased resource management
• Efficient exploitation of available network segments according to the type of service
• Implement supporting management components for next generation systems
• Enable system scalability and flexibility, so that the system can be constantly updated and have a lifecycle of 10-15 years
• Enable QoS in wireless systems
• Make cellular systems available for PMR
• Offer VAS over guaranteed network performance
• Decrease blocking rate, drop-call-rate, unsuccessful handovers, etc.
• Enable seamless vertical handovers between different network segments
• Demonstrate the architecture in a real networking environment
• Efficient use of WLAN systems and exploitation of the “hot-spot” coverage concepts
• Enable high-speed low-cost communication
• Increased capacity for multimedia services
• Become one of the “bridge” projects towards FP6
Apart from the general objectives, the technical objectives can be summarized as follows:
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Performance analysis of new generation systems based on field-trials
Define interfaces, management reports for GSM, GPRS, UTRA, WLAN and other candidate systems,
taking into account existing standards and feeding the results and conclusions into the standardization
processes
According to the systems included, specify in-detail the system architecture
Create business models for inter-segment handover
Design and implement management techniques for GSM, GPRS, UTRA and all possible network
environments
Implement the CAUTION++ system and test it in a real networking environment
Resource management of WLAN system
Vertical and vertical-vertical handover
Inter/Intra segment mobility
Obviously, one of the major objectives of this project is standardization. The project aims to have the following
standardization strategy:
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Define reports and interfaces of GSM, GPRS, UMTS and WLAN network components that are useful for
exploitation and propose standardized reports and interfaces
Standardize network interfaces to support RRM techniques in 3GPP
Technical Approach
From a technical point of view, a general architecture is the starting point. This architecture is partially based on
CAUTION architecture. CAUTION++ will exploit the know-how gained in CAUTION and extend the system in a way
to support next generation system management as well. The ITMU, as described in CAUTION, exploits
management and billing reports. The evaluation of this reports results in the real-time KPI (Key Performance
Indicators) monitoring. ITMU in GSM is distributed at each MSC. In CAUTION++, ITMU will be used as it is for the
GSM segment monitoring. In addition, it should be modified in order to attach it to SGSN nodes and achieve a
GPRS monitoring as well. The same should be done for UMTS monitoring as well as for WLAN monitoring.
CAUTION
Network
MSC
ITMU
ECS
Hub
OMC
RMU
Switch
PCS
Router
WAN
Router
Router
Switch
Switch
MSC
MSC
Hub
ITMU
ECS
Hub
CAUTION Platform
ITMU
ECS
The decisions-making is performed in RMU. The RMU is already a scalable system and there is transparency
predicted for the management techniques and the monitoring tools. RMU is based on knowledge management
mechanisms and based on a Case Based Reasoning (CBR) method it selects the appropriate management
technique. Subsequently this is optimized by means of fine-tuning mathematical algorithms. The main
modifications are in the area of communication, where communication with a set of systems and NMSs is required.
The integrated databases should also reconfigured, in terms of explicit fields for the system requirements.
Following figure shows the general CAUTION++ architecture. It monitors several network segments and the
decisions making is also based on the user’s location and the pre-defined business models. This architecture aims
to manage resources of each system separately and enable system cooperation for efficient capacity
management.
LS
GSM
GPRS
ITMU
RMU
UMTS
ITMU
RMU
ITMU
RMU
GMU
WLAN
ITMU
Interworking
network
RMU
Other
operators
Network Architecture for provision of capacity management mechanisms
Key Issues
CAUTION ++ innovation can be summarized in the following bullets:
• Distributed real-time network monitoring and alarming
• Hierarchical Management of: GSM, GPRS, UMTS, WLAN
• Interworking between the above mentioned components
• Mobile IP for seamless inter-segment handover
• Consider migration to an all-IP network
• Extend subscriber profile (priority class, QoS requirements)
• Scalable business model for network access
• Position location for enhanced service definition and mobility management
• Field trials in 2,5 and 3G radio environments
• WLAN resource management
• Provision of a set of services, based on the traffic monitoring and resource management schemes
Expected Impact
The project’s results can be summarized as follows:
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In-depth analysis, traffic modelling, system dimensioning, and performance evaluation of new generation
wireless telecommunication systems
Development of a set of resource management techniques for all addressed wireless systems, apart from
the ones already proposed and developed in CAUTION project
Low-level system “hacking” to enable extensive real-time traffic monitoring and alarming
Intelligent hierarchical resource management
System interworking
Enable vertical and vertical-vertical handovers
Development of a scalable platform as described above, fulfilling all requirements for its further integration in
wireless systems
Dissemination, standardization and exploitation of results
List of participants
Participant name
Participant short
name
Institute of Communication and Computer Systems /
National Technical University of Athens
ICCS/NTUA
EL
Technical Research Centre of Finland / Information
Technology
VTT
FIN
COSMOTE Mobile Telecommunications S.A.
COSMOTE
EL
MOTOROLA GSGIT
MOTOROLA GSGIT
I
TELEFONICA
TELEFONICA I&D
E
ELISA Communications
ELISA
FIN
CNUCE - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
CNUCE-CNR
I
ERICSSON HELLAS
ERICSSON
EL
MOTOROLA UK
MOTOROLA UK
UK
Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
UPC
E
Contact:
Sofoklis A. Kyriazakos
Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) /
National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
Telecommunications Laboratory
Heroon Polytechniou 9
15773 Athens, Greece
Tel.: +30107722558
Fax.: +30107722534
Email: skyriazakos@telecom.ntua.gr
Project Web page:
http://www.telecom.ntua.gr/CautionPlus
Country