SON has been codified within 3GPP Release 8 and subsequent specifications in a series of standards including 36.902,[1] as well as public white papers outlining use cases from the NGMN.
Furthermore, self-healing mechanisms can be triggered to temporarily compensate for a detected equipment outage, while awaiting a more permanent solution.
This implies a certain degree of localization of functionality and is normally supplied by the network equipment vendor manufacturing the radio cell.
Self-organizing network functionalities are commonly divided into three major sub-functional groups, each containing a wide range of decomposed use cases.
One of the first SON features establishes neighbour relations automatically (ANR) while others optimise random access parameters or mobility robustness in terms of handover oscillations.
This function of SON permits to spot such a failing base stations immediately in order to take further measures, and ensure no or insignificant degradation of service for the users.
Self-optimization mechanisms in mobile radio access networks can be seen to have some similarities to automated trading algorithms in financial markets.
C. Brunner, D. Flore: Generation of Pathloss and Interference Maps as SON Enabler in Deployed UMTS Networks.