Testing
Network operators can no longer rely on just a handful
of highly experienced engineers to support extensive
fiber network upgrades and rollouts. It is important to
ensure that engineering teams (often, contractors with
little experience) consistently follow best practices and
correctly test the deployed fiber, since major operators
have been increasing the degree of automation in their
deployment process.
The ability to automate the fiber testing workflow
drastically reduces the time required for manual setup
and reporting. Workflow automation also helps increase
the level of compliance to operators’ test methodologies
that are frequently overlooked in practice, thereby leading
to test repetition and fiber performance issues that could
have been avoided. On the other hand, intelligent test
automation enables engineers to quickly and successfully
perform tasks that would otherwise require advanced
expertise and a significant amount of time.
Monitoring
The concept of remote, centralized monitoring (typically
24x7) is far from new. In fact, it is standard practice in
most fiber networks. What has become more pronounced
is the need for granular visibility. This means that the
optical fiber infrastructure should be monitored in real
time. Furthermore, it means that the location of fiber
issues should be identified with high accuracy to minimize
unnecessary engineering team trips and to acceler-
14 I ICT TODAY
The End of Silos
FiberG automation should be part of the 5G automation
discussion and not treated as a separate topic. The divide-
and-conquer approach used in the past has led to the
creation of operational silos that have tormented network
operators for years; it is unlikely to be followed in the
automation-driven DevOps age of 5G.
Even references to testing and monitoring as distinct
areas of interest for network operators are likely to be
revised. For example, which of these areas would be
more relevant for the centralized monitoring to check
and ensure compliance of field test activities? The
demarcation lines, which may have simplified team
organization in the past, are now under attack.
The 5G concept of end-to-end network slicing
emphasizes the need for a better end-to-end approach
to deploying and operating networks. This end-to-end
approach will inevitably incorporate the crucial 5G
fiber infrastructure.
BEYOND 5G
Similar to 4G and the 4G evolution, the standardization
of 5G and its evolution is likely to span more than two
3GPP releases (i.e., Release 15 and Release 16, currently).
In total, there were seven 3GPP releases related to 4G
and the 4G evolution from Release 8 to Release 14. These
were grouped as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced,
and LTE-Advanced Pro. And what about 6G?
ate issue resolution.
Automated, granular fiber network
monitoring is mandatory in
the context of end-to-end network
slicing, particularly for SLA-sensitive
services. As an essential part of the
5G architecture, any issues affecting
the fiber infrastructure would also
impact on the performance and end-
user/device experience of 5G. The
ability to proactively monitor the
fiber network and correctly quantify
and ideally preempt the impact of
issues on relevant 5G services and
customers is going to be key.
As a proven and trusted enabler of past
mobile network generations/standards that
focus on the transport domain, including
backhaul, fiber has already been considered
a key factor in deploying small cells as part
of 3G/4G network densification and
5G fixed wireless access networks.