NEC is developing the world's first three-dimensional Self Organizing Network simulator that checks the feasibility of SON, which is expected to play a key role in the autonomous optimization of networks.
NEC conducted a trial SON simulation for LTE with 25 base stations in a 6-square-kilometer central area of Yokohama, Japan, where it was confirmed that the base stations' handover configurations were automatically optimized and dropped calls were prevented.
It was also confirmed that base station energy consumption was saved, without degrading communication quality, through implementation of an autonomous sleep control.
The simulator verifies SON performance under three-dimensional radio propagation as well as user mobility in an urban environment.