A survey of machine learning techniques applied to self organizing cellular networks

In this paper, a survey of the literature of the past fifteen years involving Machine Learning (ML) algorithms applied to self organizing cellular networks is performed. In order for future networks to overcome the current limitations and address the issues of current cellular systems, it is clear that more intelligence needs to be deployed, so that a fully autonomous and flexible network can be enabled. This paper focuses on the learning perspective of Self Organizing Networks (SON) solutions and provides, not only an overview of the most common ML techniques encountered in cellular networks, but also manages to classify each paper in terms of its learning solution, while also giving some examples. The authors also classify each paper in terms of its self-organizing use-case and discuss how each proposed solution performed. In addition, a comparison between the most commonly found ML algorithms in terms of certain SON metrics is performed and general guidelines on when to choose each ML algorithm for each SON function are proposed. Lastly, this work also provides future research directions and new paradigms that the use of more robust and intelligent algorithms, together with data gathered by operators, can bring to the cellular networks domain and fully enable the concept of SON in the near future

Emerging Edge Computing Technologies for Distributed Internet of Things (IoT) Systems

The ever-increasing growth in the number of connected smart devices and various Internet of Things (IoT) verticals is leading to a crucial challenge of handling massive amount of raw data generated from distributed IoT systems and providing real-time feedback to the end-users. Although existing cloud-computing paradigm has an enormous amount of virtual computing power and storage capacity, it is not suitable for latency-sensitive applications and distributed systems due to the involved latency and its centralized mode of operation. To this end, edge/fog computing has recently emerged as the next generation of computing systems for extending cloud-computing functions to the edges of the network. Despite several benefits of edge computing such as geo-distribution, mobility support and location awareness, various communication and computing related challenges need to be addressed in realizing edge computing technologies for future IoT systems. In this regard, this paper provides a holistic view on the current issues and effective solutions by classifying the emerging technologies in regard to the joint coordination of radio and computing resources, system optimization and intelligent resource management. Furthermore, an optimization framework for edge-IoT systems is proposed to enhance various performance metrics such as throughput, delay, resource utilization and energy consumption. Finally, a Machine Learning (ML) based case study is presented along with some numerical results to illustrate the significance of edge computing.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to IEEE Wireless Communications Magazin

Self-optimization of pilot power in enterprise femtocells using multi objective heuristic

Deployment of a large number of femtocells to jointly provide coverage in an enterprise environment raises critical challenges especially in future self-organizing networks which rely on plug-and-play techniques for configuration. This paper proposes a multi-objective heuristic based on a genetic algorithm for a centralized self-optimizing network containing a group of UMTS femtocells. In order to optimize the network coverage in terms of handled load, coverage gaps, and overlaps, the algorithm provides a dynamic update of the downlink pilot powers of the deployed femtocells. The results demonstrate that the algorithm can effectively optimize the coverage based on the current statistics of the global traffic distribution and the levels of interference between neighboring femtocells. The algorithm was also compared with the fixed pilot power scheme. The results show over fifty percent reduction in pilot power pollution and a significant enhancement in network performance. Finally, for a given traffic distribution, the solution quality and the efficiency of the described algorithm were evaluated by comparing the results generated by an exhaustive search with the same pilot power configuration