Orange's 'test and learn' approach to AI

C-SON (centralized self-organized network) technology has been in use for a number of years to automate the configuration of a base stations, noted Jarrett's colleague, Emmanuel Lugagne-Delpon, SVP at Orange Labs Networks, and now it is being enhanced in two ways using AI capabilities (see the graphic above). The first is "predicting the evolution of the traffic of a cell and the congestion of the cell. The tool is making decisions to re-route traffic to neighbouring base stations, to help avoid congestion, improve customer service and make better use of network resources," noted Lugagne-Delpon. The second is using real-time traffic predictions to switch modules (such as antennas) off when not needed to reduce power consumption, which can cut base station energy consumption by a few per cent, stated the Orange executive. "In these instances we can close the loop – AI is not only providing data but is also taking decisions and actions and the use case is automated," he added.