An automatic fault diagnosis and correction system for telecommunications management

Abstract

In heterogeneous telecommunications networks with a variety of legacy systems of many kinds, the activity of network supervision is a difficult task and involves a large number of operators with a diversity of skills. In such environments, the time to diagnose problems and correct faults usually is high and subject to many errors. This paper discusses these problems and some techniques and methods for automated fault management. Next, it presents the design and implementation of a system that automatically corrects faults collected by a fault management system. Its utilization greatly reduces mean time to repair faults, therefore increasing the quality of service perceived by clients. The system also reduces the cost of fault management, as it reduces the required work for supervision. The main characteristics of the system enforces its generality: it can correct faults of any network element type and it is a case-based reasoning system, so enabling the inclusion of new cases to be corrected without interfering in the cases already being treated.