Challenges and practical implementation of self-organizing networks in LTE/LTE-Advanced systems

Self-organizing network/s (SON) was promoted by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN). SON has been introduced since in 3GPP Release-8, Release-9 and currently included in Release-10 framework as an excellent solution that promises improvements and market potential for future wireless networks. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on SON in advanced wireless networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced systems. Although SON promises several advantages for both network operators and users, there are still challenges in implementing SON network in reality. Therefore, this paper addresses those possible challenges, discusses about SON implementation in inter-cell interference of cross-tier networks and provides future trends of the research area.