An Introduction to the Cognitive Concept as a Cost-Effective Method for Network Performance Management

A successful journey beyond 3G towards 4G Mobile is ensured to a large extent by creating cost-effective solutions for ubiquitous converged voice and data networks. This could be achieved through efficient network performance management, which involves procedures for cognitive network performance evaluation and diagnosis. These procedures are based on autonomic monitoring of the end-user Quality of Experience (QoE) along with its relationship and mapping to both the system's Quality of Service (QoS) and to the network's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This paper first presents a brief overview of QoE and QoS perspectives along with their dependency on the network's KPIs. The idea of mapping KPIs to QoS and also to QoE is introduced and exemplified for the multimedia streaming service. The paper also introduces the cognitive concept and its applicability to cost-effective network performance management. A model for cognitive network performance management is presented.