Fault compensation algorithm based on handover margins in LTE networks

In the context of Self-Organizing Networks (SON), this paper presents a novel cell degradation compensation algorithm based on handover margin modifications. The fault considered in this paper is a weak coverage use case so that the faulty cell will be active during the compensation, but its power will be abnormally lower than it should. Unlike the extensively studied cell outage use case, in this case, the modification of the faulty cell’s parameters can be considered as part of the compensation algorithm. In particular, this paper proposes to modify the handover margins for cell degradation compensation. To analyze the proposed algorithm, a set of simulations has been carried out using an LTE simulator with a realistic scenario. Results show that the proposed algorithm is able to improve the degradation caused by the fault with a low effect in the neighboring cells under different conditions.