Methods and apparatus for underperforming cell detection and recovery in a wireless network

• US 8,509,762 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2012
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Viavi Solutions, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Reverb Networks Inc (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Zhefeng, Lee, Kyounghwan, Sahin, Mustafa E., Tarraf, Osama
• Primary Examiner(s): CAI, WAYNE HUU
• Application Number:
  US13/353,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20120295609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 572 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422.1, 455423-425, 455446-451, 4554521-4522, 455/453, 455/571
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a monitor module, a detector module and an adjustment module. The monitor module is configured to receive a set of indicators from a wireless network. The detector module is configured to detect an underperformance condition during a time period and within a first cell of the wireless network based on the set of indicators. The adjustment module is configured to iteratively adjust a parameter associated with a second cell of the wireless network to produce an adjusted parameter. The adjustment module is configured to send the adjusted parameter to the wireless network to improve performance of the wireless network. The adjustment module is configured to restore, after the time period, the parameter associated with the second cell to a value equal to a value for the parameter prior to the time period, and send that value of the parameter to the wireless network.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a monitor module implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device, the monitor module configured to receive, from a wireless network, a plurality of indicators;

a detector module operatively coupled to the monitor module and configured to detect an underperformance condition during a time period and within a first cell from a plurality of cells of the wireless network based on the plurality of indicators; and

an adjustment module operatively coupled to the detector module, the adjustment module configured to iteratively adjust, during the time period, at least one parameter associated with a second cell from the plurality of cells to produce at least one adjusted parameter, the adjustment module configured to send the at least one adjusted parameter to the wireless network to improve performance of at least a portion of the wireless network during the time period, the second cell being within operative proximity to the first cell,

the adjustment module configured to restore, after the time period, the at least one parameter associated with the second cell to a value equal to a value for the at least one parameter prior to the time period, the adjustment module configured to send the value of the at least one parameter associated with the second cell to the wireless network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a critical zone module operatively coupled to the adjustment module and configured to define a critical zone including the first cell and a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operative proximity of the first cell; and

the adjustment module configured to iteratively adjust, during the time period, the at least one parameter associated with the second cell to improve performance of the critical zone.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustment module is configured to store, in a memory, the value for the at least one parameter prior to the time period in response to the detector module detecting the underperformance condition within the first cell.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of indicators includes at least one of a transmitted radio power level value of the first cell, a successful call rate value of the first cell, traffic statistical values associated with the first cell, handover statistical values associated with the first cell, or a drop call rate value associated with the first cell.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter associated with the second cell is at least one of a tilt value of an antenna associated with the second cell or a power value transmitted by the antenna associated with the second cell.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector module is configured to detect underperformance condition within a third cell from the plurality of cells based on the plurality of indicators, the apparatus further comprising:

a critical zone module operatively coupled to the adjustment module and configured to define, based on the third cell being within operative proximity to the first cell, a critical zone including the first cell, the third cell, a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operative proximity of the first cell, and a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operative proximity of the third cell.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector module is configured to detect an underperformance condition within a third cell from the plurality of cells based on the plurality of indicators, the apparatus further comprising:

a critical zone module operatively coupled to the adjustment module and configured to define, based on the third cell not being within operative proximity to the first cell, a first critical zone including the first cell and a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operative proximity of the first cell and a second critical zone including the third cell and a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operatively proximity of the third cell,

the adjustment module configured to improve performance of the first critical zone prior to improving performance of the second critical zone based on a performance of the first critical zone being worse than a performance of the second critical zone.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector module is configured to detect the underperformance condition within the first cell by calculating a metric value using a first indicator from the plurality of indicators and a second indicator from the plurality of indicators, the detector module configured to calculate the metric value based on the first indicator having a weight greater than a weight of the second indicator.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustment module is configured to select the second cell from the plurality of cells based on at least one of (1) a distance between the first cell and the second cell, (2) a number of call handovers between the first cell and the second cell before the time period, or (3) a location and azimuth of the first cell and a location and azimuth of the second cell.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the time period is a first time period, the detector module being configured to detect an underperformance condition within a third cell from the plurality of cells based on the plurality of indicators, the apparatus further comprising:

a critical zone module operatively coupled to the adjustment module and configured to define, based on the third cell not being within operative proximity to the first cell, a first critical zone including the first cell and a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operative proximity of the first cell and a second critical zone including the third cell and a set of cells from the plurality of cells within operatively proximity of the third cell,

the adjustment module configured to improve performance of the first critical zone during a second time period, the adjustment module configured to improve performance of the second critical zone during a third time period at least partially overlapping the second time period.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of indicators includes at least one of a performance indicator, a mobile level measurement, a network configuration parameter, or an indication of a network alarm.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustment module is configured to restore, after the time period, the at least one parameter associated with the second cell to the value equal to the value for the at least one parameter prior to the time period in response to at least one of (1) the detector module detecting that the first cell does not include an underperformance condition, (2) the adjustment module determining that additional adjustments to the at least one parameter is not allowed, or (3) the adjustment module determining that an adjustment number threshold has been crossed.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the underperformance condition is an outage condition.

14. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:

determine, at a first time, that a performance of a first cell from a plurality of cells in a wireless network has crossed an outage threshold in a first direction, the wireless network having a first configuration at the first time;

adjust, after the first time but before a second time, at least one parameter associated with a second cell from the plurality of cells from a first value to a second value to compensate for the performance of the first cell;

send, in response to the at least one parameter associated with the second cell being adjusted, the second value to the wireless network such that the wireless network moves from the first configuration to a second configuration;

determine, at the second time, that the performance of the first cell has crossed the outage threshold in a second direction opposite the first direction;

change the at least one parameter associated with the second cell to the first value in response to the performance of the first cell crossing the outage threshold in the second direction; and

send the first value to the wireless network such that wireless network returns to the first configuration.

15. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

store the first value in a memory in response to the performance of the first cell crossing the outage threshold in the first direction; and

retrieve the first value from the memory in response to determining that the performance of the first cell has crossed the outage threshold in the second direction.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

iteratively adjust, after the first time but before the second time, the at least one parameter associated with the second cell in response to a performance of a critical zone including the first cell and the second cell crossing a performance threshold.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the performance of the first cell is associated with at least one of a transmitted radio power level value of the first cell, a successful call rate value of the first cell, traffic statistical values associated with the first cell, handover statistical values associated with the first cell, or a drop call rate value associated with the first cell.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the at least one parameter associated with the second cell is at least one of a tilt value of an antenna associated with the second cell or a power value transmitted by the antenna associated with the second cell.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

receive, before the first time, a plurality of key performance indicators associated with the plurality of cells in the wireless network; and

define the performance of the first cell based on the plurality of key performance indicators.

20. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:

receive, at a first time, a plurality of indicators associated with a plurality of cells in a wireless network;

determine, after the first time but before a second time, that a performance of a first cell from the plurality of cells has crossed an outage threshold in a direction based on the plurality of indicators;

determine, after the first time but before the second time, that a performance of a second cell from the plurality of cells has crossed the outage threshold in the direction based on the plurality of indicators;

define, in response to the performance of the first cell crossing the outage threshold in the direction, a first critical zone including the first cell and a third cell from the plurality of cells, the third cell from the plurality of cells being within operative proximity of the first cell;

define, in response to the performance of the second cell crossing the outage threshold in the direction, a second critical zone including the second cell and a fourth cell from the plurality of cells, the fourth cell from the plurality of cells being within operative proximity of the second cell;

modify, at the second time, at least one parameter associated with the third cell prior to modifying at least one parameter associated with the fourth cell based on the performance of the first cell being worse than the performance of the second cell; and

send, after the second time, a value of the at least one parameter associated with the third cell to the wireless network.

21. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

determine, after the first time but before a second time, that a performance of a fifth cell from the plurality of cells has crossed the outage threshold in the direction based on the plurality of indicators, the fifth cell being within operative proximity of the third cell, the code to cause the processor to define the first critical zone including code to cause the processor to define the first critical zone including the first cell, the third cell, and the fifth cell.

22. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the first cell is not within operative proximity to the second cell.

23. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the plurality of indicators includes at least one of a transmitted radio power level value of the first cell, a successful call rate value of the first cell, traffic statistical values associated with the first cell, handover statistical values associated with the first cell, or a drop call rate value associated with the first cell.

24. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the at least one parameter associated with the third cell is at least one of a tilt value of an antenna associated with the third cell or a power value transmitted by the antenna associated with the third cell.

25. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the direction is a first direction, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:

determine, at a third time after the second time, that the performance of the first cell has crossed the outage threshold in a second direction opposite the first direction; and

restore, after the third time, the at least one parameter associated with the third cell to a value equal to a value for the at least one parameter at the first time.

26. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the plurality of indicators includes at least one of a performance indicator, a network configuration parameter, or an indication of a network alarm.