The Future of Advanced Intelligent Networks:

M.D. Murwira (BSc. Eng. (Hons),MSc. COM. Eng,MIEE,AMIEE,ZIE)

Econet Wireless Value-Added Services Department

Senior Engineer Value-Added Services

- Analysis of Intelligent Networks and Cellular Systems

- Artificial Intelligence in Automatic Test Systems (ATS)

In mobile systems like GSM but also in ISDN, the user has already a broad choice of services, in particular supplementary services. This variety of services has led to complex instructions on how to use these services. Ordinary users will not accept an increase in complexity of service handling. On the contrary, they will prefer a simpler ‘personal assistant type’ man-machine interface. Service handling simplicity can be easily archieved using ‘AI-based personal assistants’.

Third Generation systems would consist of the following traditional but well developed roles in most models: Network Operator, Service Provider, Subscriber and User. However, the emerging new business environment would create new classes of players such as Value Added Service Providers, Content Providers, Service Brokers and others. (see FIG. 3)

Such roles would produce various relationships between the different classes. One to one or one to many relations would be possible. A unique and simple model is needed that would be referred to for standardisation processes.

3G scenarios would witness Customers subscribing to services at different service providers while maintaining a single identity. Service providers may offer both services and technical support to more than one network operator. From the user’s perspective the term "Home environment" would be adopted.

For a prosperous business in a competitive environment, a service provider is obliged to offer products which meet the users' expectations better than the products of his competitors. He needs the technical means for creation of such products using AI-based agents which would not only simplify the service creation process but would also increase the speed of service deployment. Present IN concepts offers some components for flexible service offerings but more capabilities are needed.

The strong regulatory support and commitment of operators in various parts of the world which facilitated the development of 2G systems is fading quickly. The challenges and risks inherent in developing a completely new system seem to be too high today for any manufacturer or even commercial groupings.

The modular concept for 3G systems requires a phased implementation strategy. Such modules can then be developed and implemented in compliance with market demands and AI-based interworking service functions would be vital for an easier and gradual emergence of Third Generation services. The design of a radio access part/interface for the provision of global multimedia services in a GSM environment could serve as an example. According to market forecasts such services are needed very soon by the market and technical concepts are already advocated for its technical implementation.

In subsequent 3G phases, more 3G modules will be combined with the 2G technology until a stage is reached in which only 3G components work together forming in this way a fully deployed 3G system. The modular concept and its phased implementation may seem to have shortcomings ,compared with an optimum solution, but compensation in the form of reduced economic risks and early return of investment would be an important advantage.

High bit-rate service may have limited coverage at least in the initial implementation phase of 3G networks. In order to provide continuity of services especially in the early days of the Third Generation it is necessary to support a seamless handover between UMTS and GSM (including GPRS) and vice versa. 3G services should be supported in residential, public and office environments and in areas of diverse population densities.

An adaptive means using the fast developing AI-agent technology should exist for informing 3G roamers of any limitation in service capabilities he may wish to use, if more than one 3G radio interface is provided to roaming users in a given area. High-end terminals in 3G systems must adapt to the respective radio interface and access appropriate service capabilities.

3G systems shall have standardised service capabilities required to build 3G services as exemplified later in the document. Common features in the provision of 3G services would be:

One-stop shopping with a single contract for the provision of a multitude of services will be the dominating scenario.

Basic services provided in 3G networks are audio, video, facsimile transfer, data communication, Internet services, especially Web-Browsing, e-mail/voice mail, paging, messaging, and combinations of these i.e. multimedia. 3G service capabilities for these services should take account of their discontinuous and asymmetric nature in order to make efficient use of network resources. Supplementary services are generally not standardised and they are defined by service providers or other entitled players based on service capabilities as a common platform.

Speech conversation in 3G systems must be of high quality. Codec solutions are required for both lower or higher bit rates. The Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec could be the basic speech codec for the Third Generation. Real- time or near real-time video ,as already used in the internet, would be possible probably with the emergence of Wideband CDMA over the air interface. Traffic density for video communications is assumed to increase significantly in 3G networks just a few years after implementation.

3G Multimedia services and service capability would depend on the following:

mobility services which would be related to the mobility of the user, like location identification services; conference services with bi-directional and synchronised real-time transfer of voice and moving pictures; conversation services which allow bi-directional dialogue communication with real-time end-to-end information transfer; distribution services which provide continuous flow of information from a central source; retrieval services which allow to retrieve information from one source at a time; collection services which allow to retrieve information from several sources in parallel and message services which offer user-to-user communications with store-and-forward capabilities

One of the main criteria distinguishing 2G and 3G system can be summarised as "mass service for individuals". This requires new concepts for service provision including service creation, service operation and service management in a phased approach.

3G Service Creation mechanism would be standardised and would allow flexible and immediate reaction to market requirements. The process of service creation comprises service specification, service definition, service implementation and service verification. Service Operation in 3G networks would allow for complete service portability and easy service handling. Operational mechanisms would include service access (identification, authentication,..), service compilation, service execution, service control and the generation of billing records should cater for different users, service providers and network operators. Mechanisms are also required for service administration, service monitoring, service supervision and service provider billing.

Due to the number of possible individual service profiles, user-friendly and flexible AI methods are required for service administration in order to store and verify the user service profile parameters using distributed databases with a hierarchical access for the user, the subscriber, service provider and network operator. Service Portability in the form of roaming between different 3G environments shall be possible without limiting the user in his personal service set and accustomed user-interface but may be limited only by physical constraints.

Virtual Home Environment (VHE) is a system concept for service portability in the Third Generation across network borders. It should work under the ‘mass services for individuals’ condition. In this concept, the serving network emulates for a particular user the behaviour of his home environment. For the user, adaptation of his service handling is therefore unnecessary.

The concept of VHE has been proposed as the technical basis for simplification of service handling at the user’s side and for service profile portability across network borders. When using the appropriate multimode or flexible terminals, users may then roam between 2G and 3G networks without any additional requirement for backward compatibility.

The term VHE was chosen to reflect the communicating users’ view. However, the term includes all elements for the realisation of the concept (VHE Services Platform). When applying VHE technology, the serving network requests from a roaming user some basic information such as the name of the service provider. This information is used to check acceptance against the list of roaming partners and to perform authentication according to the principles of the home environment. Assuming positive outcome of these two steps, the serving network may request further detailed information on e.g. the service profile of the respective user, the used codecs and the MMI he is accustomed to. AI-based syatems may further simplify the VHE concept by interrogating the "Home enviroment" databases and decide on the profile,codes and MMI appropriate for the roamer. (see FIG. 4.)

VHE realisation requires secure and standardised links and interfaces, certified software-modules and software plug-ins, robust, reliable and cost efficient transmission and storage, modular terminals, an open terminal operating system and efficient USIM capabilities.

VHE service provisioning requires various mechanisms like service emulation, service remote execution and service enabling.

The Service Emulation function is one method for the information transfer of user specific information and involves the downloading, e.g. in form of objects, from the services provider’s service node to the serving node of the serving network. Objects might be introduced to the User's Personal Identification Card (USIM) or the terminal where they are stored. With this information available, the serving network can now emulate the behaviour of the home environment to the necessary extent.

The Service Remote Execution (‘service tunnelling’) function gives the subscriber the possibility to use his own VHE services although the serving network might not be able to support the desired service or the storage and execution of the appropriate data. For example, when using some of the 2nd Generation systems for the access of 3G services. Mechanisms for the provision of a transparent transfer of the relevant service data are necessary.

The Service Enabling function covers cases where certain services will be made available in the serving environment although not foreseen in the subscribers original VHE profile. Basic mechanisms of the service emulation and the remote service execution apply, but additionally needs are for flexible charging capabilities and mechanisms for online subscriptions to value added services (VAS) e.g. via Trusted Third Party, electronic purse (e-cash,...) or online VASP subscription. Flexible Air Interface ( software defined radio) would allow service provision when roaming outside the home environment and would be largely facilitated by use of mobile terminals with flexible e.g. programmable air interface, covering a wide range of variation in 3G networks. It is vital for the Third Generation internal evolution to higher performance and will also facilitate roaming between 3G and pre-3G networks such as GSM.,

The designing process of a 3G mobile system has to take into account of the latest achievements in modern technologies. Some examples of technological intergration consist of the convergence of communication, information and entertainment technologies, the emergence of unclear distinction between fixed and mobile network concepts , multimedia presentation, transfer of application support software packages (e.g. Java applets), software controllable terminals, high-capacity chips and memories. (see FIG. 5)

The future 3G UMTS will be able to provide data, video (still and moving pictures) and voice, through the convergence of fixed, mobile and satellite networks. This process will be market-driven ,and not technology-driven. The 3G market would probably be looking for:

Seamless access to the same services independent of the type of access and complete integration of fixed, mobile and satellite networks would result in cost reduction due to new infrastructural consortia and alliances between Operators and Service Providers, which would use existing distributed infrastructures, improving the already existing services and immediately offering the access capability to the new technologies for building up a real and a virtual powerful network.

The UMTS is a solution which will take the personal mobile communication from the Second to the Third Generation as a natural evolution based on different technologies and may be the basis for a multimedia mobile information. This solution and flexibility should guarantee backward compatibility on the fixed, mobile and satellite networks of the 2nd and 3rd Generations. The Satellite Network Operators would eventually have similar infrastructures as those of Celluar Network Operators, based on ATM-like advanced technologies and cellular-like architectures (IRIDIUM, GLOBALSTAR, ICO, ...) and integration would probably progress as shown below:

On the other hand Mobile Network Operators would probably achieve Mobile-Fixed Network Integration towards UMTS as shown below:

The use of Internet services is already very common and well accepted by the user. The 3G system has to take into account the achievements and also the requirements of Internet and intranet services, in particular Web-Browsing, including all possible applications and the commercial aspects, which put high demands on bandwidth requirements, and the conceptual elements used in the provision of Internet services.

E-commerce is already operational via the internet and the near future would witness the use of mobile phones to carry out transactions like money transfers between various accounts in such areas as shops and holiday resorts. Short message services would be used to send account balances to customers as well as special promotional announcements on new products or services, sales, discounts and personalised customer services such as greetings of special customers by name and birthday announcements. Already there are announcements of Internet-based mobile phones (Web-phones) to be released on the market by the end of 1999, which allow users to surf the Internet and read news or e-mail. These Web mobiles achieve cyber-accessibility using a software Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) which adjusts Internet sites to the phone and give services such as online banking, cinema and airline ticket booking or restaurant reservations. Artificial Intelligence systems could be used to study the profiles of various customers and learn their shopping habits and tastes. Such AI databases could then be used by predictive programs to advise on the factors affecting customer churn.

The future SIM Cards would have attractive features like an ISO size SIM Card (full size); More memory available, for multiple information storage; Multidirectory SIM Card for Multiple applications (TLC and others roaming from one device, cellular phone, to another device) like an ATM reader; Dual Chip for remote connection (regular contact chip) and local connection (contactless chip) for such things as Credit/Debit Card transactions.

The role of the SIM Cards in the evolutionary phase between the 2G and 3G Systems can be shared in three parts: As a bridge between the Network and the Terminal , it would be up to Terminal and SIM Card Manufactures to consider an optimised use of the memory of both devices. (see FIG. 8)

What would probably require clarification is whether the terminal and the SIM Card will have locked Applications between them for security reasons. The SIM card is strategically vital because it could be used to provide new Value-Added Services for customer retention

FIG. 9

The new SIM Card has to be technology independent to provide seamless services.

The capabilities of the 3G Universal Subscriber Identity Module, USIM will be extended compared to today’s SIMs with such things like the storage of personal profiles for services or MMI, storage of service logic and support of multiple registrations. A very good level of security is to be guaranteed, e.g. the protection against misuse and the authentication of user-to-USIM, USIM-to-network and network-to-USIM. It should be possible to be registered on multiple terminals with the same subscription from the same subscription provider, but different services, at the same time. It might also be possible for the Third Generation subscriber to use certain services without the USIM being physically present in the terminal, e.g. for services that are free of charge or where the user and the network does not require authentication or ciphering.

The evolution of the mobile terminal technology will depend more on Information Technology than Radio Technology. 3G systems would offer services which will make mobile communications part of the user lifestyle with an integration of business, leisure services, including information , travel and multimedia communications. The predominant role of the USIM Card would make the loss of the terminal inconsequential to the user because a new terminal could be supplied to the user rapidly and reloaded with the customer’s VHE.

Features likely to be found on 3G Mobile Terminals would include Modularity in both hardware and software, Software Oriented Radio to adapt any radio interface, Terminal Operating Environment (TOE) with Radio Function, Terminal function and Service function, Intelligent Power Management for optimum battery life achievable by the terminal with charging techniques like solar, kinetic and piezo-electric and New Man-Machine Interface requirements to support the terminal aspects of the VHE and the personalisation of the services. The MMI to the mobile could allow a number of different user interfaces such as: polymer bending screens, keypad, colour displays, voice activation, holography, virtual environment interface (which is fundamental for the creation of a virtual wide screen),written input, touch sensitive displays, language translation, brail-to-text, voice-to-text for deaf and deafmute, new authentication methods (electronic signature, voice recognition, finger-print, retina-print). A Standard Accessories Interface terminal would be able to communicate directly with any device with standardised connection points and compatible communication protocols. Exchangeable keypad environment would allow MMI alteration which would be user-driven and dependent on the application. SIM/USIM full compatibility would be a requirement for 3G mobiles. Security would be required for stored information about the user for transaction applications, medical details and protection against fraudulent access. Recyclable Material would be important in line with the concept of inconsequential terminal as well as Advanced Health and Safety Capabilities.

Complex service introduction and deployment would be easier to achieve using Intelligent Agents.

ServiceBuilder, a product developed by Nortel, would provide rapid deployment of services with products based on the international standards from ITU-T and Bellcore. The system adheres to Capability Set 1/Refined (CS-1/R) ,operates with IS-41 and SS7 and will evolve to the support of Bellcore’s AIN 0.2 Call Model.

ServiceBuilder provides IN services such as number translation, virtual private networks (VPNs), location of personal communications services (POS) users, credit card services such as Automated Calling Card Services and also Prepaid phone calls.

AI-assisted service building and management is possible if one looks at the architecture of the ServiceBuilder which consist of SIB libraries of C++ code and application programming interfaces (APIs). The Service Logic Execution Enviroment (SLEE) is an entity which allows the service provider to tailor services in a more flexible manner than traditional service creation operations. It is this entity which would then interact with an AI-based agent to learn and process queries on service creation

IN concepts have evolved to satisfy more demanding and sophisticated requirements of the user and in parallel with these increased needs are technological advances such as high bandwidth circuits, fast processors and object_oriented programming. Intelligent networks use object-oriented finite state machine modelling and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is used to define how objects interact in a distributed enviroment. This concept models a system with a boundary on a finite set of states in which the system can operate as well as a finite state of transitions that are possible from one state to another. The advantage of using Finite State Machine Modelling is that it imposes an unambiguous and strict set of rules on the behavior of the software, if the input to the software is known. Object-oriented techniques are a valuable tool to describe a system and characterize the states of that system. The system is characterized by objects and these objects represent properties of the system. Each object is described by its unique characteristics (or attributes) as well as the actions permitted to manipulate the objects (or functions). IN design philosophy the need of atomic actions requires the objects to be self-contained, modular processes which can be easily combined to form IN operations. Object-oriented FSM provides descriptive modular objects, supports a vendor-independent system to describe IN functions. An example is a view of an SSF to an SCF, information flow definition between the SSF and the SCF, and verification of the correct sequencing of functions within an SSF.

TMN is organised around OSI and object-oriented techniques which makes it supportive of Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) and Common Management Information Service Element (CMISE). The objectives of TMN are to provide a framework (a generic model) for management,

description of the appropriate functions that exist in the parts of the TMN, definition of the interfaces between the TMN and the actual networks, usage of OSI-based services, employment of the object-oriented approach to represent TMN architecture and to employ the OSI five management functional areas (X.700).

Intelligent Network TMN would be shown as expert driven (knowledge-based or rule-based) and pattern analysis-based in reference to its five management functional areas of security management, performance management, accounting management, configuration management and fault management. The use of AI-based Automatic Test Systems would result in better fault diagnosis and detection in an IN network in fault management. In security management, learning certain features of subsribers such as voices signatures, finger prints, facial images and other behaviors ,the IN would ensure that each subscriber would use only those services which have been allocated to him/her. This highlights the role of other technological developments and the AI’s dependency on such areas like voice-recognition, and image processing. AI-assisted configuration management would include such things as Network Traffic Management whereby control of network congestion is carried out by reconfiguring the network or Automatic Cross Connection of a digital private circuit via a 2 Mbit/s channel over the transmission bearer. Configuration management would be a key automated business activity to control changes to the configuration of the network (i.e. hardware, software and data). Such changes must be carried out in a manner that protects the integrity and security of the network. The cost of failure can be very high and can result in loss of service to an exchange. A large number of configuration systems have evolved over the years and it is therefore necessary to develop AI-based generic processes and network configuration systems within the network management architecture to create future manageable automation of this task. An AI-based system would work out the assignment details and determines the changes and trigger the production of work scripts which can be forwarded to implementation programs automatically. Such processes can be initiated by other processes like network planning to introduce new capacity or changes to its structure or usage processes for new service provisioning or performance and fault management processes to replace faulty equipment. Data and software update changes are converted into the appropriate machine interface before verification, archiving and loading into the network.

Interworking TMN functions use the conventional manager/agent concept for the exchange of messages. The manager issues management messages and receives notifications, and the agent manages the managed objects, receives messages (directions) from the manager, and emits notifications to the manager. CMIP is the layer 7 network management protocol that is used to exchange the network management messages between the manager and agent. CMISE is the OSI-based service definition that defines the interface between the CMIP software and the manager/agent software. The Management Information Base (MIB) is an important part of TMN and identifies the network elements (managed objects). It also contains the unambiguous names that are to be associated with each managed object. Since the MIB is a database that contains information about the managed objects (e.g. number of packets sent or received) it can therefore act as input information for queries that drive AI-based Managers or Agents which then exchange information through network management protocols, such as CMIP.

TMN provides a model that is supportive of and complimentary to IN , but the future IN would see a likely integration of functions and objects since AI-based components would be distributed across the networks. Intelligent network architecture would be based on reusable and common software programs with CORBA and object-oriented MIBs being valuable tools to manage the IN system components.

This survey serves to clarify the inevitable world trend of IN-based mobile communications research and developments and the increasing importance and role of AI to realise these future networks. These third generation IN-based networks would allow efficient deployment and management of new wide-band and multimedia services.