With the current explosion in network traffic, and mounting pressure on operators’ business case, Self-Organizing Networks (SON) play a crucial role. They are conceived to minimize human intervention in engineering processes and at the same time improve system performance to maximize Return-on-Investment (ROI) and secure customer loyalty.

Written by leading experts in the planning and optimization of Multi-Technology and Multi-Vendor wireless networks, this book describes the architecture of Multi-Technology SON for GSM, UMTS and LTE, along with the enabling technologies for SON planning, optimization and healing. This is presented mainly from a technology point of view, but also covers some critical business aspects, such as the ROI of the proposed SON functionalities and Use Cases.

Key features:

• Follows a truly Multi-Technology approach: covering not only LTE, but also GSM and UMTS, including architectural considerations of deploying SON in today’s GSM and UMTS networks
• Features detailed discussions about the relevant trade-offs in each Use Case
• Includes field results of today’s GSM and UMTS SON implementations in live networks
• Addresses the calculation of ROI for Multi-Technology SON, contributing to a more complete and strategic view of the SON paradigm

This book will appeal to network planners, optimization engineers, technical/strategy managers with operators and R&D/system engineers at infrastructure and software vendors. It will also be a useful resource for postgraduate students and researchers in automated wireless network planning and optimization.

Dr. Juan Ramiro is currently the Corporate Marketing Director of Optimi, where he has held several technical and managerial positions since the company was founded in 2003. He has ten years of experience in the wireless industry, mostly focused on RAN performance simulation and optimization. Before joining Optimi, he worked for Telefónica I+D, and then he carried out R&D activities about smart antenna systems and radio resource management for UMTS/HSDPA at Aalborg University, Denmark, in close co-operation with Nokia Networks. He is co-author of one international patent, several international patent applications, ten conference papers, two journal papers and contributions to another two books. Dr. Ramiro earned a Master's degree in Telecommunications Engineering from University of Málaga (Spain), with awards to the best student record and the best master thesis; a Ph.D. degree in Wireless Communications (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) from Aalborg University (Denmark); and an Executive MBA degree from Instituto Internacional San Telmo (Spain).

Dr. Khalid Hamied is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of Optimi, a leading supplier of advanced planning and optimization solutions for GSM, UMTS and LTE wireless networks. He received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1994. His Ph.D. thesis was on Advanced Radio Link Design and Radio Receiver Design for Mobile Communications. In 1994, he joined the Cellular Infrastructure Group of Motorola where he worked on high-speed data for third generation CDMA systems. In August 1997, he joined Mobile Systems International as a Principal Engineer where he developed software planning solutions for CDMA networks. From 1999 to 2001, he was a Senior Staff Engineer in the Wireless Access and Applications Group, Motorola Labs, Arlington Heights, Illinois. Dr. Hamied has twelve refereed papers and two patents. His research interests include coding, modulation and mobile wireless systems.