Data Analytics for Next Generation Mobile Networks

Next generation 5G networks are designed to provide the Mobile Broadband service we will require for the Internet of Things (IoT) and beyond. They will provide high data rates with minimal latency to thousands of connected devices. In addition they will be required to have the high reliability and availability expected of an essential service with energy-efficient and secure operations.
Data will be fundamental to the operation of any 5G or IoT Network. While the network itself is designed to deliver data, data will be key to understanding the network operation and performance in order to provide the service expected by end users. The variety of data sources, the speed of the data flows and the volume of data generated will require Big Data Analytics.

The analysis of high speed data streams will be required for anomaly detection, traffic engineering and performance optimisation. Being able to view the data through different aggregation viewpoints (time slicing, end user categorisation or combined flows) will be important for meaningful network analysis. Algorithms to process the data must be accurate and also resource efficient. Capturing and storing all data will not be an option, so strategic decisions will be required about what data needs to be collected, when and at which point in the data flows.
Building Data Analytic systems to understand the network complexity and ensure its optimal performance will be key to delivering networks which meet the promise of delivering the thousands of fast, low-latency internet connections required for our connected society. These Data Analytic Systems need to match the networks they are required to analyse in scale, speed, flexibility and, of course, be able to apply complex statistic algorithms to interpret the data.

Our future is in connected networks. Data analytics will provide the key to unlocking their potential.


