Cell Site Backhaul Alarm Correlation for Redundancy Failure Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Communication network operators face challenges in identifying and addressing link redundancy failures in alternative access vendor networks, as they are unaware of the lack of redundant paths provided by external vendors, leading to unaddressed network outages and potential contractual breaches.
Innovation Solution
An incident management application and reporting system that automatically identifies patterns of alarms associated with cell sites, generating incident reports to resolve both failed paths and lack of redundancy, allowing for reconfiguration and compensation requests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network operators rely on alternative access vendor networks for backhaul connectivity, then network coverage and capacity are improved, but visibility into redundancy failures and contractual compliance is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by automatically detecting alarm patterns from vendor networks and generating incident reports that provide visibility into redundancy failures. The feedback loop includes receiving alarms, analyzing alarm patterns to identify lack of diverse paths, and generating reports that notify both internal teams and vendor networks of the redundancy issue.
Solution Approach 2:
The incident management application serves as an intermediary between network operators and alternative access vendor networks. It receives alarms from vendor networks, analyzes them to determine redundancy failures, and generates incident reports that mediate communication between all parties, enabling visibility into the vendor network's path configuration without direct manual inspection.
2Reliability
If manual monitoring of vendor network paths is performed, then contractual compliance can be verified, but operational complexity and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically detecting and analyzing alarm patterns to identify redundancy failures. The incident management application autonomously receives alarms, determines lack of diverse paths, and generates incident reports without requiring manual intervention, thereby maintaining contractual compliance verification while reducing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual monitoring mechanisms with automated electronic alarm analysis. Instead of manual inspection of vendor network paths, the system uses automated detection of alarm patterns (such as path down alarms and unreachable cell site alarms) to identify redundancy failures, substituting mechanical manual processes with electronic automation.
3Device complexity
If redundant paths are not configured in alternative access vendor networks, then network simplicity is maintained, but network resilience and failure recovery capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by proactively detecting alarm patterns that indicate missing redundant paths before complete failures occur. By analyzing alarm patterns (such as multiple path down alarms or unreachable cell site alarms), the system identifies redundancy issues early and generates incident reports that trigger remediation actions, preventing total network failure.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of resolving cell site backhaul link redundancy failures in a communication system comprises receiving a plurality of alarms from a plurality of network elements (NEs) in the communication system, determining that the alarms include at least two alarms associated with a cell site, including a first alarm indicating that a path through an alternative access vendor network to the cell site is down and a second alarm indicating that the cell site is unreachable, generating a first incident report indicating a lack of diverse paths through the alternative access vendor network to the cell site, and obtaining, based on an LSE incident report for the alarms, a second incident report comprising a compensation or credit from the alternative access vendors for failing to provide contracted-for diverse paths through the alternative access vendor networks.