Rigorous, Effortless and Timely Assessment of Cellular Network Changes

Abstract

Cellular service providers continuously deploy changes in their network in the form of new software releases, service feature introductions, configuration changes, equipment re-homes, firmware upgrades, and topology modifications. It is important to carefully assess the impact of these changes on service performance to validate expected behaviors and take mitigation actions in a timely fashion in case of any unexpected degradation. The diverse nature of the network changes, complex interactions across different layers of the cellular network, and the rapid evolution of the network make it challenging to accurately conduct the assessment. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of our system that enables rigorous, effortless and timely assessment of performance around network changes. We share our lessons learned from the deployment in an operational cellular network over the last eight years.