EP-4342214-B1 - DETERMINING COUNTERACTIONS FOR REMEDYING NETWORK ANOMALIES

Inventors

• Sunila, Karri
• HÖYKINPURO, Veijo
• ERTIMO, Riku

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20230405

Claims (14)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: detecting an anomaly associated with at least a first cell of a communication network; determining, based on a channel quality indicator, a common nominator for the anomaly in terms of antenna ports, radio units, sectors of transmission site, or transmission sites; determining, based on the common nominator, a counteraction for the first cell for remedying the anomaly; identifying at least one second cell of the communication network impacted by the counteraction; obtaining one or more first performance indicators of at least one of the first cell and the at least one second cell, wherein the one or more first performance indicators are associated with a first time period before performance of the counteraction; causing performance of the counteraction at the first cell or providing an indication of the counteraction for performance of the counteraction at the first cell by a user; obtaining one or more second performance indicators associated with the at least one of the first cell and the at least one second cell, wherein the one or more second performance indicators are associated with a second time period after performance of the counteraction, wherein the first and second performance indicators comprise values of the channel quality indicator; and verifying the counteraction based on the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining the counteraction based on a scope of the anomaly.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the scope of the anomaly comprises a single cell and the counteraction comprises changing an antenna tilt of the first cell, the scope of the anomaly comprises a plurality of cells sharing an antenna port and the counteraction comprises replacement of at least one antenna element associated with the antenna port, the scope of the anomaly comprises a plurality of cells sharing a radio and the counteraction comprises replacement of the radio, the scope of the anomaly comprises a sector of an access node and the counteraction comprises replacement of components common to cells of the sector, or the scope of the anomaly comprises the access node and the counteraction comprises providing an indication of a need to replan location of the access node.
4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein identifying the at least one second cell is based on determining that the at least one second cell shares an antenna of the first cell or a radio of the first cell.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein identifying the at least one second cell is further based on at least one of: determining that the at least one second cell is within the same sector or beam as the first cell, determining that the at least one second cell overlaps in frequency with the first cell, or determining that the at least one second cell is within a threshold distance from the first cell, the threshold distance corresponding to an n-th percentile of timing advance values of the first cell.
6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein verifying the counteraction comprises: calculating a first difference between the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators of the first cell and the at least one second cell; and providing an indication of improved network performance, in response to determining that the first difference is higher than or equal to a first threshold, providing an indication of degraded network performance, in response to determining that the first difference is lower than or equal to a second threshold, or calculating a second difference between the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators of the first cell, in response to determining that the first difference is between the first threshold and the second threshold.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein verifying the counteraction further comprises: providing the indication of improved network performance, in response to determining that the second difference is higher than or equal to a third threshold, providing the indication of degraded network performance, in response to determining the second difference to be lower than or equal to a fourth threshold, or providing an indication of substantially maintained network performance, in response to determining the second difference to be between the third threshold and the fourth threshold.
8. The method according to claim 6 or claim 7, further comprising: reversing the counteraction, in response to the indication of degraded network performance, or maintaining the counteraction, in response to the indication of improved network performance.
9. The method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein detecting the anomaly is based on at least one key performance indicator of the first cell.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the at least one key performance indicator of the first cell comprises at least one of: a channel quality indicator, a timing advance, or a reference signal received power.
11. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the first and second performance indicators comprise median values of the channel quality indicator.
12. The method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the indication of the counteraction for performance of the counteraction at the first cell by a user comprises an automated service ticket.
13. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any of claims 1 to 12.
14. A computer program comprising program code configured to, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus at least to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 12.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD Various example embodiments generally relate to the field of wireless communications. Some example embodiments relate to determining counteractions for remedying anomalies within a wireless communication network. BACKGROUND A wireless communication network may be analysed and optimized in many different ways, for example based on key performance indicators (KPI) of the network. An example of a KPI is the channel quality indicator (CQI). Finding a root cause for performance degradation may be one target in network optimization. Finding the root cause and determining corresponding actions may be however challenging due to the variety of performance indicators and possible network configurations. Document US 2016/135067 A1 provides a method for evaluating a performance of a cellular radio network. Document US 2021/377811 A1 discloses a network analysis platform that applies performance models to determine if a coverage degradation exists at a network cell, such as at a base station. SUMMARY The scope of protection is defined by the appended set of claims. Example embodiments of the present disclosure enable to improve operation of a wireless communication network. This benefit is achieved by the features of the independent claims. Further example embodiments are provided in the dependent claims. According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method comprises: detecting an anomaly associated with at least a first cell of a communication network; determining, based on a channel quality indicator, a common nominator for the anomaly in terms of antenna ports, radio units, sectors of transmission site, or transmission sites; determining, based on the common nominator, a counteraction for the first cell for remedying the anomaly; identifying at least one second cell of the communication network impacted by the counteraction; obtaining one or more first performance indicators of at least one of the first cell and the at least one second cell, wherein the one or more first performance indicators are associated with a first time period before performance of the counteraction; causing performance of the counteraction at the first cell or providing an indication of the counteraction for performance of the counteraction at the first cell by a user; obtaining one or more second performance indicators associated with the at least one of the first cell and the at least one second cell, wherein the one or more second performance indicators are associated with a second time period after performance of the counteraction; and verifying the counteraction based on the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators. According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the method may further comprise: determining the counteraction based on a scope of the anomaly. According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the scope of the anomaly comprises a single cell and the counteraction comprises changing an antenna tilt of the first cell, the scope of the anomaly comprises a plurality of cells sharing an antenna port and the counteraction comprises replacement of at least one antenna element associated with the antenna port, the scope of the anomaly comprises a plurality of cells sharing a radio and the counteraction comprises replacement of the radio, the scope of the anomaly comprises a sector of an access node and the counteraction comprises replacement of components common to cells of the sector, or the scope of the anomaly comprises the access node and the counteraction comprises providing an indication of a need to replan location of the access node. According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, identifying the at least one second cell is based on determining that the at least one second cell shares an antenna of the first cell or a radio of the first cell. According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, identifying the at least one second cell is further based on at least one of: determining that the at least one second cell is within the same sector or beam as the first cell, determining that the at least one second cell overlaps in frequency with the first cell, or determining that the at least one second cell is within a threshold distance from the first cell, the threshold distance corresponding to an n-th percentile of timing advance values of the first cell. According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, verifying the counteraction comprises: calculating a first difference between the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators of the first cell and the at least one second cell; and providing an indication of improved network performance, in response to determining that the first difference is higher than or equal to a first threshold, providing an indication of degraded network performance, in response to determining that the first difference is lower than or equal to a second