System and method for facilitating capacity monitoring and recommending action for wireless networks

• US 8,966,055 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2009
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Mittal, Mukesh K., Patil, Sunil S., Pica, Francesco, Chaudhuri, Kausik Ray, Syed, Umair Ahmed
• Primary Examiner(s): Keehn, Richard G
• Application Number:
  US12/478,349
• Publication Number:
  US 20100123575A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,091 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/221
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0609 based on severity or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0805 by checking availability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

A method and apparatus for facilitating capacity monitoring and recommending action for a wireless network is provided. The method may comprise: obtaining data associated with one or more capacity attributes and one or more key performance indicators (KPIs) associated with a network, calculating network level values for the one or more KPIs from the obtained data, generating performance data graphs by plotting a first of the one or more KPIs against a second of the one or more KPIs, analyzing the one or more performance data graphs to determine at least one alarm threshold, and monitoring the one or more capacity attributes to determine if any of the at least one alarm thresholds has been triggered.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a network, comprising:

obtaining data associated with one or more network capacity attributes and one or more key performance indicators (KPIs) from one or more cells included in a network during a collection period;

determining that an event occurred for a particular time within the collection period, the event being at least one of a network outage and a hardware failure;

excluding from the obtained data abnormal data obtained for the particular time of the event and based on the event;

calculating network level values for the one or more KPIs from the data obtained from the one or more cells after the abnormal data is excluded from the obtained data;

generating one or more performance data graphs by plotting a first of the one or more KPIs against a second of the one or more KPIs, the first of the one or more KPIs being a capacity utilization percentage based on the one or more network capacity attributes;

analyzing the one or more performance data graphs by determining a correlation between the second of the one or more KPIs and the capacity utilization percentage to determine a plurality of alarm thresholds including a major alarm threshold and a minor alarm threshold, wherein the major alarm threshold is triggered when network performance is severely degraded, and wherein the minor alarm threshold is triggered when network usage is trending toward degradation of network performance; and

monitoring the one or more capacity attributes to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing one or more action items to improve network performance and user communications experience; and

initiating, by a computer device in communication with the network, at least one of the action items in response to a monitored capacity attribute triggering one of the alarm thresholds.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

retuning at least one of the one or more capacity attributes for the network as determined by the at least one action item;

monitoring the retuned network to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered;

upon a determination that at least one of the alarm thresholds has been triggered in the retuned network, generating one or more long term action items to facilitate long term improvements in network performance and user communications experience.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more capacity attributes include at least one of:

network hardware capacity attributes, or network backhaul capacity attributes, or network software attributes, or any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the network hardware capacity attributes includes channel element utilization, network backhaul capacity attributes includes Iub utilization, and the network software attributes includes power utilization and logical channelization resource utilization.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network level values for the first of the one or more KPIs include at least one of a channel element utilization percentage, an Iub utilization percentage, a power utilization percentage, and a logical channelization resource utilization percentage.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network level values for the second of the one or more KPIs includes at least one of circuit switched\ packet switched (CS\PS) call set up failure rate due to the applicable capacity attribute from the one or more capacity attributes, CS\PS call drop rate due to the applicable capacity attribute from the one or more capacity attributes, CS\PS admission denial rate, CS\PS resource pre-emption rate, CS\PS down switching rate, data user throughput, packet droppacket delay, and video metrics or number of data users.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring further comprises:

determining if more than one alarm threshold has been triggered; and

upon a determination that more than one alarm threshold has been triggered, ranking the multiple alarms by order of severity, wherein the severity is partly defined by level of network usage interruption.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ranking further comprises:

ranking, among one or more cells associated with the network, which cell has the greater severity alarm triggered.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the ranking further comprises:

ranking, among the one or more capacity attributes that triggered an alarm threshold, which of the one or more capacity attributes that triggered an alarm threshold has the greater severity alarm triggered.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring further comprises:

monitoring at least one of the one or more capacity attributes over a predetermined duration of time, wherein the duration is defined by a time period needed to obtain statistically relevant comparison data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring is performed for at least a portion of the one or more cells.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining the portion of the one or more cells by selecting cells in which voice and data traffic levels exceed a general threshold level.

14. At least one processor configured to generate performance measurements for a wireless network, wherein the at least one processor includes:

a first module for obtaining data associated with one or more network capacity attributes and one or more key performance indicators (KPIs) from one or more cells included in a network;

a second module for determining that an event occurred for a particular time within a collection period, the event being at least one of a network outage and a hardware failure and for excluding from the obtained data abnormal data obtained for the particular time of the event and based on the event;

a third module for calculating network level values for the one or more KPIs from the data obtained from the one or more cells after the abnormal data is excluded from the obtained data;

a fourth module for generating one or more performance data graphs by plotting a first of the one or more KPIs against a second of the one or more KPIs, the first of the one or more KPIs being a capacity utilization percentage based on the one or more network capacity attributes;

a fifth module for analyzing the one or more performance data graphs by determining a correlation between the second of the one or more KPIs and the capacity utilization percentage to determine a plurality of alarm thresholds including a major alarm threshold and a minor alarm threshold, wherein the major alarm threshold is triggered when network performance is severely degraded, and wherein the minor alarm threshold is triggered when network usage is trending toward degradation of network performance; and

a sixth module for monitoring the one or more capacity attributes to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered.

15. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

a first set of codes for causing a computer to obtain data associated with one or more network capacity attributes and one or more key performance indicators (KPIs) from one or more cells included in a network;

a second set of codes for causing a computer to determine that an event occurred for a particular time within a collection period, the event being at least one of a network outage and a hardware failure and exclude from the obtained data abnormal data obtained for the particular time of the event and based on the event;

a third set of codes for causing a computer to calculate network level values for the one or more KPIs from the data obtained from the one or more cells after the abnormal data is excluded from the obtained data;

a fourth set of codes for causing a computer to generate one or more performance data graphs by plotting a first of the one or more KPIs against a second of the one or more KPIs, the first of the one or more KPIs being a capacity utilization percentage based on the one or more network capacity attributes;

a fifth set of codes for causing a computer to analyze the one or more performance data graphs by determining a correlation between the second of the one or more KPIs and the capacity utilization percentage to determine a plurality of alarm thresholds including a major alarm threshold and a minor alarm threshold, wherein the major alarm threshold is triggered when network performance is severely degraded, and wherein the minor alarm threshold is triggered when network usage is trending toward degradation of network performance; and

a sixth set of codes for causing a computer to monitor the one or more capacity attributes to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining data associated with one or more network capacity attributes and one or more key performance indicators (KPIs) from one or more cells included in a network;

means for determining that an event occurred for a particular time within a collection period, the event being at least one of a network outage and a hardware failure;

means for excluding from the obtained data abnormal data obtained for the particular time of the event and based on the event;

means for calculating network level values for the one or more KPIs from the data obtained from the one or more cells after the abnormal data is excluded from the obtained data;

means for generating one or more performance data graphs by plotting a first of the one or more KPIs against a second of the one or more KPIs, the first of the one or more KPIs being a capacity utilization percentage based on the one or more network capacity attributes;

means for analyzing the one or more performance data graphs by determining a correlation between the second of the one or more KPIs and the capacity utilization percentage to determine a plurality of alarm thresholds including a major alarm threshold and a minor alarm threshold, wherein the major alarm threshold is triggered when network performance is severely degraded, and wherein the minor alarm threshold is triggered when network usage is trending toward degradation of network performance; and

means for monitoring the one or more capacity attributes to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered.

17. An apparatus for monitoring a network, comprising:

a performance information module physically coupled to a hardware processor and operable for;

obtaining data associated with one or more network capacity attributes and one or more key performance indicators (KPIs) from one or more cells included in a network;

determining that an event occurred for a particular time within a collection period, the event being at least one of a network outage and a hardware failure;

excluding from the obtained data abnormal data obtained for the particular time of the event and based on the event;

calculating network level values for the one or more KPIs from the data obtained from the one or more cells after the abnormal data is excluded from the obtained data;

generating one or more performance data graphs by plotting a first of the one or more KPIs against a second of the one or more KPIs, the first of the one or more KPIs being a capacity utilization percentage based on the one or more network capacity attributes; and

analyzing the one or more performance data graphs by determining a correlation between the second of the one or more KPIs and the capacity utilization percentage to determine a plurality of alarm thresholds including a major alarm threshold and a minor alarm threshold, wherein the major alarm threshold is triggered when network performance is severely degraded, and wherein the minor alarm threshold is triggered when network usage is trending toward degradation of network performance; and

a network monitoring module operable for;

monitoring the one or more capacity attributes to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

an action item module coupled to the hardware processor and operable for;

storing one or more action items to improve network performance and user communications experience; and

initiating, by a computer device in communication with the network, at least one of the action items in response to a monitored capacity attribute triggering one of the alarm thresholds.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for;

retuning at least one of the one or more capacity attributes for the network as determined by the at least one action item;

monitoring the retuned network to determine if any of the alarm thresholds has been triggered; and

the action item module operable for;

generating one or more long term action items, upon a determination that at least one of the alarm thresholds has been triggered in the retuned network, to facilitate long term improvements in network performance and user communications experience.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the one or more capacity attributes include at least one of network hardware capacity attributes, network backhaul capacity attributes, and network software attributes.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the network hardware capacity attributes includes channel element utilization, network backhaul capacity attributes includes Iub utilization, and the network software attributes includes power utilization and logical channelization resource utilization.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network level values for the first of the one or more KPIs include at least one of a channel element utilization percentage, an Iub utilization percentage, a power utilization percentage, and a logical channelization resource utilization percentage.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network level values for the second of the one or more KPIs includes at least one of circuit switched\packet switched (CS\PS) call set up failure rate due to the applicable capacity attribute from the one or more capacity attributes, CS\PS call drop rate due to the applicable capacity attribute from the one or more capacity attributes, CS\PS admission denial rate, CS\PS resource pre-emption rate, CS\PS down switching rate, data user throughput, packet drop, packet delay, video metrics, and number of data users.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for:

determining if more than one alarm threshold has been triggered; and

upon a determination that more than one alarm threshold has been triggered, ranking the multiple alarms by order of severity, wherein the severity is partly defined by level of network usage interruption.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for:

ranking, among one or more cells associated with the network, which cell has the greater severity alarm triggered.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for:

ranking, among the one or more capacity attributes that triggered an alarm threshold, which of the one or more capacity attributes that triggered an alarm threshold has the greater severity alarm triggered.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for:

monitoring at least one of the one or more capacity attributes over a predetermined duration of time, wherein the duration is defined by a time period needed to obtain statistically relevant comparison data.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for:

monitoring at least a portion of the one or more cells.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the network monitoring module is further operable for

determining the portion of the one or more cells by selecting cells in which voice and data traffic levels exceed a general threshold level.