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AI in networks

AI in networks

Building cognitive networks and human trust in AI
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AI in networks

AI is creating business value in terms of improved performance, higher efficiency, enhanced customer experience as well as creating new business models and use cases for 5G, IoT and enterprise.

AI and machine learning

AI enabling intelligent networks

As 5G, IoT and Edge gains traction, the shift that transforms industries and enterprises, becomes a reality. It also brings new complexities of network operations – co-existing of new and legacy technologies, hybrid networks, a variety of frequency bands and spectrums, and an abundance of connected devices. In addition, new requirements from IoT and industrial use cases require further performance enhancements and optimization of the network. This is the context for our efforts in AI and we use it to cut through the complexity, address requirements of new technologies and use cases, increase network performance and enable network automation.

AI and automation

By using a combination of currently available and well-understood AI techniques within a flexible architecture, we are able to reach a high degree of practical autonomous operation. This will lead us into an era of intelligent, autonomous networks with close to zero touch. The real value of AI is not limited to applications which connect to the network but will ultimately be realized in the networks.

Intent-based networks | Machine reasoning

Trustworthy AI

To realize the full potential of AI, trust needs to be established in the development, deployment and us of AI. This is critically, why we build human trust in AI addressing aspects spanning from explainability and human oversight to security, and built-in safety mechanisms. Trustworthiness is a prerequisite for AI and we are building it into the system by design.

Explainable AI | UX design to trust AI

Benefits of AI in Networks

AI is transforming industries across the globe, and telecom is no exception. So, what benefits does this technology offer for networks? Where are we already seeing the value of AI being proven? What new opportunities can we expect to emerge, and what ingredients are key to successfully navigating your AI journey? Join our experts and find out, in our new blog series – sign up and receive each post as it’s released!

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Five key benefits that reveal the full value of AI

Gain a deeper understanding of the full value of AI for telecom, as our experts introduce our blog series and reveal the five key benefits of AI for networks, plus give unique insights and tips for how communication service providers (CSPs) can get started on their AI journey.

Hear from experts about AI

Elena Fersman, Head of Research Area Artificial Intelligence at Ericsson Research

Remote robotics and AI

Hear from Elena Fersman, Head of Research Area Artificial Intelligence at Ericsson Research, how the relationship between humans and robots is changing. Discover why it’s paving the way towards zero-touch operations and a landscape in which the network will automatically adjust and react based on the needs of the robots.

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Jonas Åkeson, Head of Automation & AI

AI and its necessity for a better 5G

AI adoption is essential to efficient network management and operations. In this video, Jonas Åkeson, Head of Automation & AI, explains how AI and automation will help address the complexity of 5G networks, drive efficiencies and improve customer experience as well as open new revenue streams.

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Our AI solutions in action

Our artificial intelligence solutions target service providers to address their challenges to maximize efficiency and end-customer experiences and create new revenue streams. They are embedded throughout the network, built by people with extensive AI and telecom expertise, and with an AI-first mindset and technology in every product or service.

Project Voyager Shanghai

Intelligent RAN Automation

A series of technologies, solutions and services that use intelligent, machine learning to improve network performance, enhance customer experience and reduce operational costs and energy consumption.

40 percent reduction on bad quality cells.

Ericsson Radio System

Augmented MIMO sleep

In Ericsson Radio System, AI algorithms run on the baseband to predict traffic patterns and autonomously turn off antennas as required to reduce energy usage. It’s also possible to combine with Cell sleep and the Low Energy Scheduler solutions for even better savings.

14 percent - average saving for a proof-of-concept cluster

Self-organizing networks (SON)

Intelligent Deployment

Ericsson has reshaped the way we deploy networks from the ground up with a digital, agile, and modular suite of tools and services that enable customers to capture the full benefits of their valuable assets.

99 percent first time right site solution from design to delivery.

Cognitive performance

Cognitive design & optimization

Industry-leading suite of cognitive software solutions for network planning, design, tuning and optimization.

15min execution of performance diagnostics across 1M cells

Energy infrastructure operations

Energy infrastructure operations

AI and data analytics to create energy efficiencies on the radio network.

~15 percent energy OPEX reduction through intelligent energy optimization

IoT connectivity

Service Continuity AI app suite

Implementations of the AI app suite in real-life networks has revealed results,, for example, making the network including radio and core more robust and stable.

35 percent reduction in critical incidents.

Up to 60 percent reductions in network performance issues.

Ensure network performance

The world becomes increasingly dependent on superior network performance, both from a consumer and a business perspective. It’s the main driver of consumer satisfaction, and absolutely necessary when deeply integrated into industrial production processes. It needs to be always up, always on, always performing. We use AI in our networks to secure top-class performance.

Virtualization and cloudification promise improved agility, lower cost and is the foundation for new service creation. A cloud-powered network with a virtualized core is a competent tool for service provider transformation, but it also comes with challenges. We realize the value of the virtualization of core and cloud technologies with AI. 

Improve energy efficiency and meet the demands of sustainability

Reducing network energy consumption benefits everyone – the consumer, the environment and the bottom line. We use AI to plan, manage and run networks more efficiently from an energy perspective.

Create an outstanding, future-proof customer experience

Future customer experience is based on more than coverage and capacity. With diverse use cases, the definition of customer experience will be equally diverse. To meet these requirements, manual activities are not enough, and AI will enable service providers to create and assure experience no matter what those services are.

Operations are key for service providers to realize business opportunities. Service providers need to create relentless efficiency in operations by becoming data-driven and predictive. We use AI to increase efficiency in operations while transforming to deliver on business KPIs rather than network KPIs.

Bring out the most from your existing infrastructure

AI is not only about 5G and the future. It’s a powerful tool to bring out most of the infrastructure already in place, making sure that you can keep the cost down and customer experience high.

 

 

Take a deep dive into AI

Erik Ekudden

To deliver cognitive networks, we build human trust in AI

To deliver cognitive networks by 2030, that learn, reason and act on business intent almost autonomously, we must build trustworthy AI. Hear from our CTO Erik Ekudden how our networks will become the platform of choice for future digital enterprise.

Read the blog post
Colleagues holding a tablet working with a robot

Zero Touch Operations: Insights from CSP executives

Zero-touch makes network operations more data-driven, predictive and proactive. Technologies like artificial intelligence reduces the need for manual activities and enables greater business agility – but it requires preparation. Read about the journey to Zero Touch Operations from a CSP operator executives’ perspective.

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Ensuring energy efficient networks with AI

Finding ways to make networks more energy efficient without negatively impacting experience is critical to network operators for both cost and sustainability reasons. To assist in these efforts, we are exploring the potential of using AI techniques to recommend energy-efficient configuration settings for network nodes.

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We have AI capabilities that solve major problems for service providers

We are not building a general-purpose artificial intelligence platform, trying to solve problems in every industry. Instead, we have developed our skills and capabilities in telco AI to address the challenges of service providers. Working closely with our customers’ challenges, data and products, we are providing them with a different approach to getting value from their networks. We have identified and prioritized four AI capabilities that make our AI as effective as possible.

Networks intelligence and automation, Research

Telecom and AI expertise

Our AI is anything but artificial. It’s built on a strong foundation of combining deep telecom domain expertise, data science and AI knowledge. These skills always work hand in hand, close to customer problems, collaborating to solve them. This means that we know the right problems to solve and how to solve them with the right AI solutions.

Machine intelligence

AI-ready technology

Ericsson’s technology is AI-ready. We have made architectural decisions that make AI easy to deploy and use and that works together holistically across the network. Combined with our telecom domain expertise, this means that we can use AI where it makes sense, solving the right problems for our customers.

strategies

AI use case co-creation

We have learned through experience that co-creation in developing solutions together is critical. We develop our AI in the field together with our customers, using real network data, our domain expertise. Together with a portfolio of ready-made use cases and pre-trained algorithms, we adapt to various customer contexts and problems. In this way, we can solve the right problems for our customers instead of providing an untrained general platform or solutions to only address very specific challenges.

Antenna

AI-powered portfolio

We are not a niche player, focusing on one use case. Instead, we build AI into every part of our portfolio where it makes sense, from baseband to centralized clouds. With AI spread out through all our products, we can see the whole end-to-end context and how we make every part of the network work together.

Dense Urban Street Macro

Unique access to data

Through access to multiple and diverse data sets from CSPs that we collaborate with, we can train our algorithms. This valuable data creates a unique foundation to build powerful algorithms, benefitting CSPs and their end-users.

Explore related offerings

AI in operations

AI in operations

How we are taking network and IT operations from manual, reactive, and incident-driven, to proactive and data-driven operations – all based on AI and automation.

AI improving network performance

AI in radio access networks

How do you improve your network performance and user experience in today’s densified networks? AI is one of the keys in conquering these challenges, for LTE as well as 5G.

Cognitive network

In the future mobile network, all operational processes and tasks will be executed with 100% automation. The network will become cognitive – it will be continuously self-learning at scale from its experiences with and observations from its environment and from its interactions with humans. Learn more about what we do in Ericsson Research.

AI Research