Femtocell Service Manager

Product Overview
Airvana’s Femtocell Service Manager (FSM) enables plug-and-play provisioning of femtocells, automates the configuration of all air-interface specific parameters, and provides comprehensive operational and fault management capabilities.  It integrates the femtocell system with existing network management and operations support systems using an extensible XML/SOAP northbound interface. These capabilities, combined with an architecture that scales to manage millions of femtocells, make mass market deployment of femtocells a reality.


The FSM detects faults, reports alarms and provides remote configuration of access points.  However the FSM goes beyond these element management functions to address challenges that are unique to femtocell management, including the ability to support very large scale deployments with no end user interaction, and the ability to discover and act upon the local radio environment.


The FSM consists of four major functional modules: Device Management, Automated Network Planning, Statistics and Logging, and Performance Management.  The Device Manager is responsible for remote configuration, performance data collection, device fault management, and software upgrades, using the industry-standard TR-069 protocol.  The Automated Network Planner (ANP) optimizes device settings including transmit power level, frequency, cell radius and PN offsets. The ANP is RF-environment “aware”, using data from both the femtocell and the macro network.  It implements advanced algorithms that minimize RF interference and optimize the end-user’s experience.   Statistics and Logging maintains a database of network events, alarms and conditions that can be used to generate pre-defined reports or conduct ad-hoc queries.  The Performance Manager generates and displays a wide range of key performance indicators (KPIs) on a per-femtocell, regional, or network-wide basis.  The Performance Manager enables both real-time troubleshooting and long-term network analysis and planning.



Femtocell Service Manager Functions and Interfaces
The FSM and its constituent modules use open, standards-based interfaces to ensure simple, effective integration with other elements in the operator network.  Implementation of the TR-069 device management protocol allows the FSM to manage standards-compliant non-Airvana femtocells.  The XML/SOAP “northbound” interface integrates the FSM with existing network management and operational support systems.

The FSM operates on a distributed architecture consisting of Sun workstations and WebLogic clusters, resulting in a system that can grow to support large scale implementations of millions of femtocells with full redundancy.


Key Features

  • Zero-touch end user experience - Provides CD-less, PC-less, plug-and-play activations using the standards-based, widely-deployed TR- 069 CPE management protocol.
  • Real-time information and control - Provides intuitive graphical user interface to monitor alarms and performance issues for each device. Provides policy-based management of large-scale updates to configuration or firmware, needed to support new services or fix problems.
  • Expert radio frequency planning and optimization – Automated Network Planning tool calculates optimized RF configuration parameters so that broad in-building coverage is achieved, while inter-femtocell and femtocell-to-macro- interference are minimized.
  • Open standards-based – The FSM can manage heterogeneous installations of Airvana and TR-069-compliant non-Airvana femtocells.  The SOAP/XML interface provides integration into existing OSS/BSS systems.
  • Powerful, scalable platform – distributed, clustered architecture economically supports smaller deployments and scales to millions of femtocells