Automation in 5G – Part 1

Everybody has been eagerly waiting for the 5G, and it’s now almost here with us. With this in mind, every operator plans for deployment for the benefits that come with the services. The network is anticipated to address the increased growth of data and device automation. The highly-rated network automation comes with scaling services and flexibility, leading to many operators’ success.

For long, operators rely on reactive automation that relies on a rule-based system that gets into action whenever a failure is detected. The failure’s impact is translated to the subscribers who experience a service breakdown which is not a feature of the reliable 5G.

Every network should be proactive, which is made possible when artificial intelligence and machine language learning algorithms get trained to coordinate to take corrective action whenever a network failure is predicted before it can occur. This type of automation will ensure no disruption of services to the subscribers when using the services.

Reasons to engage in automation

5G comes with complexity in which many operators believe that with automation, network efficiency can be achieved to a high degree. The process of industrialization is supported by heterogeneous equipment which is designed to offer end-to-end services. A good example is Vodacom which increased its network optimization up to 45000% through AI implementation enables augmented engineering.

Augmented engineering is an effective analysis of data sets using computer systems to achieve the desired results. The main objective of augmenting engineering in network automation is to increase speed which mostly takes a lot of time. Going with Vodacom, machine learning results realized efficiency where engineers concentrated on critical and strategic projects and left automation to engage on heavy lifting projects. According to MIT research, it is expected that automation will lead to a reduction in operating expenses from 30% to 50%

A technology company, Futuriom conducted a survey where more than 200 operators were engaged. The operators were asked about their three primary goals for implementing automation in the network, and the following three responses stood out:

• To ensure an increase in delivering services
• A more advanced network security feature
• Improved support in dynamic and on-demand services

As a secondary objective, operators chose to decrease operating costs and capital spending. Also, operators pointed out that they were planning to use intelligent analytics for two years to automate fault resolution. For a total of 55% of operator’s automation of network designs, buildings, and operations deployment was vital in their plans.

But everyone will not fit in one

In the dynamic nature of automation, it is evident that every operator will have their path in automation. Some operators will first engage in data centers’ automation, while others will pay attention to the operation support system (OSS).

Commonly, operators will start by ensuring that the vitalized functions (VF) are automated before a move on the legacy systems. The approach is different for each operator, which is a clear indication that there is no standard way of doing it through some emerging suggestions on how the future would be shaped by automation.

According to the survey done on Altran’s extensive experience with operators, it was found that automation plays a critical role in preventing faults in a network. Other importance’s includes the following:

Enhancing Security

Denial of service is rampant in many network setups, but with automation, it comes with complete protection from denial of service (DDoS) and botnets. Using the automation strategy, determination of the root cause is analytically done, and any anomaly is detected. After detection, diagnostic procedures are done to ensure that the security is strengthened and all the vulnerabilities are addressed.

Network planning capabilities

Currently, the world experiences an unpredictable traffic pattern. With automation, an intelligent service rollout can be incorporated on peaks and troughs of radio waves. This results in a consistently delivered frequency that of quality for the subscribers. 5G uses a cloud infrastructure which means that planning will be done through automation.

Network slicing capabilities

Automation has resulted in an intent-based dynamic network slicing where operators can establish various streams of revenues. The revenues are secured by the presence of a unique network option that delivers a variational use case and an alternative business model.