White Paper

The Future of Cellular Radio

Network Load Balancing

A special report for mobile operators

and Optimization engineers

White Paper on Intucell SON load balancing optimization

Executive summary
The RF conditions in the cellular radio network were never static. For load
balancing functions in the predictable world of voice and low volume data,
however,
this approximation was close enough. The introduction of
smartphones and mobile data devices brought an exponential increase in
mobile data usage, in turn increasing the unpredictability of subscribers
demand which causes loading on network resources.

A handful of subscribers, using bandwidth-hungry

services, can push cells to congestion anywhere,
anytime.
Traditional optimization methods are slow, based on long term network
statistics, and have a long turnaround time basically changing from
one static network configuration working point to another. Iterations must
be followed by a labor- intensive verification stage. Operators who
chose to maintain these methods might find themselves facing
underutilized resources, premature expansion costs to support peak loads,
and customer dissatisfaction resulting from overcrowded networks.
In order to support the changing network needs, operators require a fully
integrated automated load balancing application with a built in feedback
mechanism. The radio engineers can leave the tedious roles of manual
optimization to a machine, and focus on defining network policies,
performance goals and performing radio planning activities.

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White Paper on Intucell SON load balancing

optimization

Dealing with dynamic networks

Live networks have dynamic RF traffic patterns that change
throughout the week, and over the course of a day. Changes in
behavior of voice verses data usage, roads and business areas
compared to adjacent residential areas.
Unexpected load
imbalances due to massive gatherings, cell
malfunction or introduction of new cells in an area, all effect the load
distribution, and are rarely dealt with as soon as they occur.
Since dealing with such dynamics is impossible from practical
engineering practice perspective, a preventive RNP (Radio Network
Planning) approach is normally taken. By this approach, cells are
dimensioned to handle the busy hour traffic, regardless of what is
occurring in others cells in the area.

The high cost of imbalance

The sunk cost of underutilized resources
In Static networks with no time-sharing of geographically distributed
resources, costly resources supporting peak traffic are very often
unused. In some cases, there might be underutilized cells nearby
resources that the operator has already paid for, ie sunk costs.
This situation is further emphasized in cases of bursty traffic demand
and high variability of the active users locations. Furthermore,
exponential increase in demand for mobile broadband increases this
gap greatly.

White Paper on Intucell SON load balancing

Denied admissions pattern in two adjacent cells. Note
optimization
that the peak load does not follow the same time
pattern.

The mobile data crunch

Mobile operators today are facing an avalanche of demand, driven by
the mobile data crunch- fast penetration of smartphones and mobile
broadband. The impact is colossal. According to a mobile data usage
study conducted by Cisco, an iPhone generates as much traffic as
96 non-smart phones; a tablet generates as much as 122 non-smart
phones and a laptop with a data card consumes as much traffic as
515 non-smart phones (Cisco, 2011).
The operational cost of networks increases to meet the increasing
demands. According to a network cost analysis conducted by Informa
telecoms & media, network costs are expected to increase by 30% in
the next 2 years, and continue in this pace (Informa Telecoms &
Media, 2011b).
To support this increase in traffic would require a similar increase in
resources, causing more increase the underutilized resource gap.

Increased uneven distribution of bandwidth

demands increases this gap greatly
The top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generate over 20
percent of mobile data traffic, and the top 10 percent of mobile data
subscribers now generate approximately 60 percent of mobile data
(Cisco, 2011).
The impact of the concentration of usage on network planners is
that it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict load patterns in
both time and place. This, in turn, magnifies the resource gap in
unpredictable amounts.

Mobile data traffic prediction by Cisco

The Empty bus syndrome:

Expansions performed to maintain high level

QoS at peak usage times
In order to support the peak traffic, radio planners dimensioning
rules dictate adding new cells or resources according to the peak
traffic in the busy hours measured per cell. In unbalanced networks,
the load is uneven, and the busy hours are not the same in all their
cells, and there might be underutilized available resources already
paid for in the vicinity of a certain loaded cell.

Overloaded
cells
cause
customer
dissatisfaction,
increased churn, and lost
revenue
The option of leaving the network unbalanced, without expansion
will risk congestions, call setup failures and reduced data QoE at peak
traffic conditions.
Leaving the network unbalanced without expansion will limit the data
throughput available to subscribers at peak time, lowering subscriber
satisfaction, and possible loss of revenue.

Existing solutions to handle load

balancing
Current network optimization processes are handled manually by radio
engineers.
The granularity of existing optimization cycles is quite large, and can
take days or even weeks thus making long term adjustments which
are normally based on large scale time averaging of traffic loading.
By their very nature, such solutions can fit long term or predicted
load issues, and will, at best, provide a possible compromise between
the needs of different areas.
What types of solutions are currently available?

Decision supporting tools

Using decision-supporting tool to perform the optimization calculations
such
as required expansions, RF parameter changes, and
the
predicted impact on performance, improves the capability of taking
more inputs into consideration. However, these types of tools
provide reports not actions and are prone to error due to the high
degree of sensitivity to initial conditions. The radio engineers are still
left with the tasks of verifying the resulting recommendations,
updating the OSS / NMS, and checking the results. This is an open-

loop solution, where the entire end-to- end process includes manual
stages to complete.

Local load balancing between carriers

Some equipment vendors offer solutions of inter-frequency load
balancing. These solutions can balance loads between carriers generally co-sectors in the same base station.
These solutions, while efficient in resolving localized load imbalance
cases, do not

provide a solution for a balancing the load in a cluster of cells, and

require an infrastructure of multiple carriers in each sector.

Wi-Fi or Femto offloading

For local areas with consistent capacity problems, operators can
elect to offload the data portion to a local Wi-Fi or femtocell.
However, according to a recent report by Informa, in order to extract
value from Wi-Fi offload mobile operators will require carrier-grade
Wi-Fi networks that are more tightly integrated into the operators
network and back office environments than at present, and
deployment of which will incur significant costs (Informa Telecoms &
Media, 2011a).
Additionally, both Femto and Wi-Fi offloading are complex techniques
which require high level of back office configuration management,
installation and supporting equipment, on the network side (such as
Femto Gateways) or in the UE side (the client has to support
controlled Wi-Fi offloading) etc. These reasons make those techniques
non trivial and not suitable for every operator.
In any case, this solution can only add capacity to a fixed location, in
the vicinity of the Wi-Fi AP of the Femto itself, and does not provide
a solution to congestion situations that change over time and place.
Furthermore, by passing the data to a separate network, the operator
faces a potential loss of revenue, and has less control over the QoS
and SLAs toward the customers. With Femtos current 3GPP
architecture, the operator needs to decide if to dedicate a separate
carrier for the Femto deployment (which reduces the utilization of
such carrier which could have been used in the macro network) or
work in an intra- frequency mode, which has its drawbacks in the
form of need to manage the Femto Macro layers coexistence.

LTE offloading
Another solution is offloading heavy data traffic to an LTE network.
However, this elephant-gun approach is not financially justifiable for
most operators for several years to come (Informa Telecoms & Media,
2010).
In reality, many of these solutions were not designed to contend with
the degree and extent of variation in usage that we see unraveling
today. Another important factor in the transition to LTE is the
ecosystem maturity. Not only does there need to be solid UE support
for multi-mode GSM/UMTS/LTE but there has to be a viable
penetration rate of such devices to the users population in order to
claim that LTE can be an affective offloading solution. Additionally,
spectrum resources are always an issue, and, at least in the first

phases of deployment, since UMTS carriers cannot be evacuated, new

spectrum will be needed to activate LTE,
which
means
more
investments from the operator side.

The 3G SON solution: Fully automated

load balancing
To face these realities mobile operators need enhanced functionality in
the existing UMTS infrastructure that can respond to demand patterns
as they form and change. A network configuration that was optimal
early this morning could fall short before lunchtime; what is right for a
certain cell could be all wrong for its neighbor.

Enhanced
network
automation

responsiveness

by

full

The best network engineers, working with the finest tools can probably
make no more than 100 - 200 optimization adjustments per month.
Automated 3G SON (Self Optimizing Network) load balancing or other
applications can do many thousands of adjustment a day in a network,
allowing the engineers to focus on radio planning engineering and
design tasks. The endless grunt work of tweaking, analyzing and
tweaking again is more efficiently handled by machines

Automated RF shaping to increase the efficiency

of the network
By means of automated RF shaping, a system can modify the footprint
of the surrounding cells to the current usage demand and match the
subscriber distribution to the available resources. Using RF shaping
increases the efficiency of the network, and increases the utilization of
existing resources.

Can this be truly automated?

The impact of performing many changes can be disastrous if those
changes are not carefully monitored. This is the purpose of the SONs
feedback mechanism which verifies the effect of the changes on the
network.

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SON revolutionizes the level of automation in operations and maintenance

and significantly decrease the OPEX associated with operations and
maintenance. OPEX Savings estimated at 65-80% (Motorola, 2009).
In order to be fully automated, a SON system must change the network
configuration in small steps, cell level iterations, verify the quality of the
change performed, and continuously compare the performance metrics to
the policy targets of the operator.

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White Paper on Intucell SON load balancing

optimization

The methodology of automated load

balancing
The Trigger Mechanism
To begin the Snapshot, the Intucell DLB has to be triggered by any one of
the conditions below
HW Load
Trigger

Power
Admission
Rejections
Trigger

Code Load
Trigger

Power Load
Trigger

Code
Admission
Rejections
Trigger

HW
Admission
Rejections
Trigger

Start
Snapshot

The Checking Procedures

Prior to starting any action on the affected loaded cell and its
neighbors, Intucell automated SON will start the following checks to ensure
that certain thresholds are met

Source Cell
Requireme
nts

Min Required HO Factor

Maximum & Minimal
CPICH Percentage

Candidate
Neighbor
Requirem
ent

Min No of Neighbors
Max no of Neighbors
Min Weight of Each
Neighbor
Min Total Weight of
Neighbors

Action

Maximum Load Balancing

Action
Duration
Cell Block Time

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White Paper on Intucell SON load balancing

IntraFreq Operation
Start Level
optimization

IntraFreq Operation Max

Level

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The Action Cycle

The power levels of the affected loaded cell and its neighbors will be
adjusted in small steps, between 0.3 to 0.7dBm, up to the max
IntraFreq Operation Max Level defined in the policy.
At any time should the surrounding
meet the conditions as defined
REQUIREMENT, the Intucell DLB
cell until the cell block time has

neighbor cells be loaded or does not

in the CANDIDATE NEIGHBOR
will stop working on that particular
lapsed.

The DLB will continue to work, as long as the load is present or until
the expiry of the Maximum Load Balancing Action Duration,
whichever is earlier.

The Feedback Process

The SON DLB will monitor the system in real time, every 15 minutes
on the loaded cell and its surrounding neighbors. At any time should
the system performance degrade or when any one of the neighbors
are loaded, Intucell SON DLB will immediately revert the changes of the
affected cell.
When the Intucell SON DLB has detected that the source cell is no longer
loaded, the SON DLB will revert all changes in the CPICH of the source
cell and surrounding neighbors to their original settings.

The methodology described above on the SON Load

Balance algorithm is a tested and proven solution, as
demonstrated successfully in trials and commercial
systems deployed worldwide.
The following 2 case studies below will illustrate how
Intucell DLB has helped to optimize the usage of radio
resources in the network, thus improving the overall
network accessibility

Case
study
#1: 3G-SON
loadbalancing lowers power load
by 20%

This case study demonstrates an activation of an RF shaping based intra

frequency load balancing SON application on a busy cluster. Activating a 3G
automated load balancing application on a cluster of sites lowered the radio
resource load on the site by 20%, transferring the load to nearby sites with
shared coverage. Once the application was deactivated the load returned to
the previous values.
UEs can be moved between cells by means of RF shaping decreasing the
size of the loaded site, and increasing the size of the neighboring cells. The
cells relative sizes can be continuously modified to fit the current load
conditions in the area covered as these conditions change.

Before load balancing

After load balancing

RF shaping moves subscribers from the loaded cell to

neighboring cells

Case
study
#2:
3G-SON
load
admission
balancing
lowers
rejections by ~100%

This case study demonstrates the ability of a 3G SON load balancing

application to lower the denied admissions. Compared to busy times on
different days, when the load balancing application was activated on the
cells the number of denied admissions per PM report dropped to 0.

What to look for in an ideal load

balancing application
The lists below details what to look for in an ideal automated
load balancing application, and how it can deal with the load
challenges of modern cellular networks

Fully automated end-to-end balancing solution, shifting traffic

between cells, based on availability, congestion, and blocking of
radio resources

Support for intra-frequency load balancing in a cluster of sites as

opposed to single RBS balancing between carriers

Contains an automatic feedback method of verifying the

impact of the adjustments, and correcting them if necessary

Based on real time performance and loading conditions and not

extrapolated historic averages

Rapid response time identifying and correcting interference issues as

they occur

Standard implementation and vendor

to avoid implementation surprises.

Configurable to set performance goals and policies

An optimization cycle of minutes, rather than days or weeks

agnostic

solution

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Graphic interface with real time traffic statistics and current RF

conditions

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Conclusions
Unbalanced networks are increasing operators annual costs in both
lost revenue, and sunk cost of underutilized resources. The mobile
data crunch is creating sharper, more localized dynamic traffic
patterns than ever before.
The current manual solutions including decision supporting tools
cannot meet the increasing need of load balancing in terms of reaction
time and accuracy.
Automated 3G-SON load balancing solutions can identify loads in
near-real time, change the RF footprint of cells to shift users from
loaded cells to unloaded cells, and verify the impact on the network,
all without human intervention.

About Intucell
Intucell delivers the worlds most advanced SON solutions in the
market today. The companys SON systems are deployed by a
number of leading mobile operators worldwide. Powered by real time
network visibility, Intucells systems automatically tune the network
to actual conditions as they develop and change.
Intucell is a private international company backed by blue-chip
investors, with offices in the United Kingdom and Singapore and an
R&D center in Israel.
To find out more about how Intucell can help you meet your network
goals, visit www.IntucellSystems.com, or contact our representatives
at info@IntucellSystems.com

Sources
Cisco. (2011, Feb.). Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global
Mobile Data traffic Forecast Update, 2010-2015.
Retrieved from Cisco:
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/ekits/Cisco_VNI_Global_Mobile_Dat
a_Traffic_ Forecast_2010_2015.pdf
Informa Telecoms & Media. (2010, November 16). LTE world.
Retrieved from UK mobile broadband network upgrade to LTE
not economically viable until 2015: http://lteworld.org/uk/ukmobile-broadbandnetwork-upgrade-lte-noteconomicallyviable-until-2015
Informa Telecoms & Media. (2011a, January 4). Mobile
operators need offload to be smart and cost effective.
Retrieved from Telecoms.com:
http://www.telecoms.com/23817/mobile- operatorsneed-offload-to-be- smart-and-cost-effective/

Informa Telecoms & Media. (2011b, March 30). Modeling

mobile broadband networks costs: LTE and offload case
studies. Retrieved from Informa Telecoms
& media:
http://webinars.informatm.com/2011/03/31/modellingmobile- broadband-network-costs/
Motorola. (2009).
Using Self-

LTE

Operations and Maintenance Strategy

Organizing Networks to Reduce OPEX.

Retrieved
from
Motorola
Solutions:
http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Business/Solutions/Industr
y%20Soluti ons/Service%20Provider s/Network
%20Operators/LTE/_Document/Static%20Files/LTE%20Operability
%2 0SON%20White%20Pap er.pdf