LTE Access Network Management and Legacy 3GPP interworking (LM3G)
ART/148CP
20130402 - 20140930
11507
Mr Jiadong Ou
The project is divided into phases with progressive features. In each phase, the deliverables should include: i) feature/system specifications, ii) software design specifications/high level design, iii) software implementation, iv) test plan and reports. Enhanced LTE Access Gateway with Legacy 3GPP Interworking Capability - Phase 1 > Control Plane Features: - Interworking with 3GPP legacy infrastructure – attach/detach > Data Plane Features: - 10GbE interface support - Enhanced usage data collection (support 50K users) ------------------------------------------------------- Converged IP-MPLS/LTE Cross-Layer Network Management System- Phase 1 > Management Features: - Multi-vendor LTE equipment support - Logical Topology: S1 and X2 ------------------------------------------------------- Enhanced LTE Access Gateway with Legacy 3GPP Interworking Capability - Phase 2 > Control Plane Features: - Interworking with 3GPP legacy infrastructure s: i) mobility management, ii) paging (via legacy infrastructure) and Circuit Switch Call Fallback (CSFB) support. ------------------------------------------------------- Converged IP-MPLS/LTE Cross-Layer Network Management System - Phase 2 > Management Features: - Multi-layer Logical topology: X2/S1 over IP/MPLS path - Fault correlation module ------------------------- Addition Information: The project has been scaled down a bit from what has been proposed to annual vetting. The functions, features and interfaces to be implemented in the deliverables shall remain, but the effort on the integration and testing will be reduced. Instead of verifying against 3G entities list MSC, SGSN, the project team will in-house simulators (that simulate the needed interfaces of the legacy 3G system) to verify the functions and interfaces of the deliverables. Complete integration and IOT will be performed upon request from industrial partners through future contract service arrangements, for example, to test against a specific revision of 3GPP specs or a specific vendor's legacy 3GPP system.
Mr Alex Mui
Dr Che-I Justin Chuang
Mr Jui Kuang, Ray HO
Ms Mei Fan, Rebecca CHOI
Ms Angel CHEUNG
Dr Xin Yi LIU
Mr Koon Man, Angus SAM
Dr Billy Siu-Ping Chan
Mr Sheng-Long Xiao
Mr Xiao-Dong Wang
Mr Jesse Yi Ai
Dr Ying Dong
Mr James Shijun Fan
Mr Ted Yao-Cheng Liang
Mr Qing-Hua Liao
Mr Allen Jian-Chao Lu
Dr Yolanda Yau Yau Tsang
Mr Shi Le Ou
Miss Alley Hua Xia
Mr Lin Xu
Miss Alexandra Po-Chun Yue
Mr Ansel Shao Hua Zhang
Mr Wai Lok Wong
Mr Benjamin Tze Kit Lee
Miss Shen Hua
Mr Zi Gan Andy Zhou
Mr Dong Zhe Su
Mr Calvin Lee
Dr Simon Yee Wong
Mr Jing Wei Liu
Airspan Communications Ltd.
Altai Technologies Limited [Sponsor]
Comba Telecom Systems Limited [Sponsor]
Innofidei (HK) Technology Ltd (Licensing) [Sponsor]
Innofidei Technology (HK) Ltd.
The mobile operators are actively planning and deploying LTE (3GPP Long Term Evolution) to address the increasing demand of mobile data traffic. The LTE access network needs to be designed with interworking capability with legacy 3GPP infrastructures to enable seamless roaming of multi-mode user terminals between LTE and legacy 3GPP networks. In the next few years, the wireless standard bodies and mobile operators will be focusing on three major areas: i) small cell and mobile data offloading; ii) LTE convergence with legacy networks (3GPP, WiFi); and iii) LTE network management. The project intends to address some of the above technology trends, requirements and challenges with the following focuses. The first focus is on LTE access network gateway. It includes: i) interworking with legacy 3GPP infrastructure which allows seamless access from multi-mode user terminals, by implementing the necessary interworking interfaces and functional features to handle heterogeneous wireless network access scenarios and ii) advanced networking software which supports 10GbE interface and over 20Gbps throughput – beyond the GbE interface and 10Gbps throughput supported in the project LTE-AGW (ART/110). In addition, the performance of accounting of the networking software will be significantly improved to support over 50K users per blade. The second focus of this project is on LTE network management. A LTE access network is typically integrated with IP-based infrastructure (such as IP-MPLS) to transfer LTE control messages and data traffic. Therefore, It becomes complex and challenging in determining the root causes and impacts to LTE services. For example, when there is an abnormal call drop rate, without analyzing cross-layer (between IP and LTE) information, it is difficult to determine the root causes and hence it may result in longer downtime and more customer complaints. This project will develop a converged IP-MPLS/LTE cross-layer management system that monitors LTE and IP equipment and services. An algorithm will be developed based on the correlating information (status, usage, alarms) collected from the network in order to determine the probable root causes, and to check whether the fault will result in any LTE service impact. This project addresses the industrial demands of i) suitable networking software platform (like the LTE access gateway) to enable vendors to build networking products which meet the performance and flexibility requirements; and ii) multi-vendor LTE network management software to provide end-to-end cross layer management capability to meet the needs of network operators. The technologies developed in this project are rarely available to the communications equipment and system integration industries in the Greater China region. In this regard, this project will benefit the industries in the region and thus many industry players such as Altai Technologies, Innofidei Technology (HK), Airspan Communication and Syscom Computer Engineering have shown their strong interests in collaborating with ASTRI for this project.