SMART — A solution for managing the capacity, growth, and performance of wireless networks

The wireless communications industry has shown explosive growth in the recent past. At the same time, new information access technologies for the Internet have gained universal acceptance. In the wireless market, single mobile switching center analog systems have rapidly evolved into hybrid networks with time division multiple access and code division multiple access technologies. These developments have created a need for a comprehensive network performance management tool to measure and analyze capacity, growth, and performance of wireless networks. This need is being addressed by the state-of-the-art Systems Measurement Analysis and Reporting Tool (SMART), which is based on Internet access technology. SMART is being developed as one of the first Web-based tools on the Autoplex® 1000 product line and is designed to run on the operations and maintenance platform (OMP) in a client-server architecture, with the OMP acting as a network management server. SMART has extensive applications in making performance, capacity, and engineering-related decisions that are relevant during wireless systems planning, design, and operation. This paper describes the SMART architecture, its implementation on the Autoplex system, and applications in managing the capacity, growth, and performance of a wireless network. Though some features of SMART discussed here have been developed, SMART must not be construed as an openly available and fully supported product.