IWSON 2014 - Fourth International Workshop on Self-Organizing Networks (IWSON 2014)

After three well received events at VTC in Budapest 2011, ISWCS in Paris 2012, and VTC in Dresden 2013, the 4th International Workshop on Self-Organizing Networks (IWSON) will be organized in August 2014 in Barcelona. Accepted papers will appear in IEEExplore.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the Self-Organizing Network (SON) paradigm applied to wireless communications networks. Approaching the challenges in radio network SON is a focus area in both industry and academia research. Currently, we note rising interest in field experience from early LTE SON deployments, SON coordination approaches and techniques, SON features tailored to the needs of multi-radio access technology and multi-layer networks/heterogeneous networks, SON in multi-vendor networks, and SON for future radio access technologies beyond LTE and LTE-Advanced.
With the success of the first three IWSON events in Budapest, Paris and Dresden, and the progressive focus on SON as the means to improve the performance and operability of mobile radio networks, it is timely and important to continue this workshop series bringing together people with SON interests. The scope of IWSON is intended to attract both industry and academia, primarily with a focus on 3GPP technologies such as LTE, but other systems can be considered as well.
The program will include both oral presentations and a poster & demonstration session to enable lively discussions. The workshop welcomes submissions from both researchers and practitioners, either closely related to currently standardized systems or considering future systems.
Areas of interest include but are not limited to
SON use cases and functions in heterogeneous networks
Broad view of heterogeneous networks (3GPP and non-3GPP): multi-layer, - vendor, -tech. (incl. WiFi)
Load balancing, traffic steering, end-to-end traffic steering, mobility management
Interference and spectrum management
Energy Saving Management (ESM) in heterogeneous networks
MDT/TCE as boosting data source for SON
RAN / network / user equipment support for SON
SON for adaptive antenna systems
SON management and coordination
SON workflow definition and management
Policy and objective driven SON deployment, management and enforcement
Coordination between network layers, vendors, technologies, RAN and backhaul
Different coordination approaches, e.g., design vs. runtime, distributed vs. centralized, layered vs. monolithic, implicit vs. explicit, etc.
Monitoring stability and performance of SON operation
SON in the field
Test bed activities and experience from field trials
Experiences and field performance of SON features implemented in LTE deployments
SON evolution
Automation techniques and technologies beyond SON
Cognitive and self-learning mechanisms
Scenario and application-specific SON, e.g., smart cities, telematics applications, disaster handling, car-to-machine communications
Submission deadline is in April 2014, notifications due in May and final versions due in June 2014. More specific dates will be announced.
Contact information: Dr. Kostas Tsagkaris at ktsagk-AT-unipi.gr