Tobias Sundqvist, doctoral student at the Department of Computing Science. ImageErik Sandin
Tobias Sundqvist, doctoral student at the Department of Computing Science. ImageErik Sandin

Press release -

AI accelerates the development of the 5G network

Developers of the 5G mobile network can now get help from artificial intelligence, AI. A thesis from Umeå University shows new machine learning methods that provide faster troubleshooting and better understanding of the mobile network.

Tobias Sundqvist, industrial doctoral student at the Department of Computing Science, has developed new machine learning methods that learn how the mobile network behaves based on troubleshooting information that software developers analyze daily. The new methods can quickly find errors and help understand what goes on in large distributed systems.

Having worked as a developer in telecom for over 20 years, Tobias Sundqvist felt that developers were not getting the support they needed to troubleshoot the huge amounts of data produced by the Radio Access Network (RAN). He then decided to take matters into his own hands, and together with Umeå University and the company Tietoevry, he received funding from the WASP Graduate School to develop new methods to analyze the behavior of the RAN.

Mobile network is growing rapidly

“The use of mobile phones has exploded in the last ten years and the mobile network has evolved at the same pace. In the past, the RAN software was concentrated in single applications and had far fewer features. Today, a distributed microservice architecture is used and thousands of engineers update the software with new features every day. Nevertheless, developers analyze the system in almost the same way as when the mobile phone was first launched,” says Tobias Sundqvist.

What we as developers used to need hours or weeks to analyze, AI can now do within a few seconds.

When something goes wrong in the RAN, developers may have to spend weeks analyzing logs to identify possible errors. Tobias Sundqvist believes that there is now finally a light at the end of the long troubleshooting tunnel.

“What we as developers used to need hours or weeks to analyze, AI can now do within a few seconds. The methods I have developed can quickly find deviations in the huge logs but also help to understand what is happening in the RAN”, says Tobias Sundqvist.

Important to understand how AI can help

Today, the developers themselves select the information that can be used for troubleshooting and it is only intended to be read by humans. With thousands of engineers involved in software development, the information will be in different formats in the different parts of the RAN.

“This complicates the ability to analyze the information. We have shown the huge gains that could be made in troubleshooting by following a more general structure. The developers can then get help from machine learning methods to follow what is happening in the system and get help to identify what is an anomalous behavior.”

Previous research has mainly focused on how machine learning can help optimize the RAN or find anomalies in the metrics collected. Tobias Sundqvist now takes it a step further by analyzing the RAN behavior in the system logs that have so far been intended for humans. In this way, developers can now more quickly find the many errors hidden in the RAN and accelerate the development of future mobile networks.

For more information, please contact:

Tobias Sundqvist, Department of Computing Science, Umeå University
Phone: 070-323 64 15
E-mail: tobias.sundqvist@tietoevry.com


Topics

Umeå University
Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest institutions of higher education with over 37,000 students and 4,300 faculty and staff. The university is home to a wide range of high-quality education programmes and world-class research in a number of fields. Umeå University was also where the revolutionary gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 was discovered that has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

At Umeå University, distances are short. The university's unified campus encourages academic meetings, an exchange of ideas and interdisciplinary co-operation, and promotes a dynamic and open culture in which students and staff rejoice in the success of others.

Contacts

Sara-Lena Brännström

Sara-Lena Brännström

Communications officer Faculty of Science & Technology +46 90 786 72 24

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Umeå University

Umeå University is one of Sweden's largest universities with over 37,000 students and 4,300 employees. The university is home to a wide range of education programmes and world-class research in a number of fields. Umeå University was also where the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 was discovered – a revolution in gene-technology that was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Founded in 1965, Umeå University is characterised by tradition and stability as well as innovation and change. Education and research on a high international level contributes to new knowledge of global importance, inspired, among other things, by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The university houses creative and innovative people that take on societal challenges. Through long-term collaboration with organisations, trade and industry, and other universities, Umeå University continues to develop northern Sweden as a knowledge region.

The international atmosphere at the university and its unified campus encourages academic meetings, an exchange of ideas and interdisciplinary co-operation. The cohesive environment enables a strong sense of community and a dynamic and open culture in which students and staff rejoice in the success of others.

Campus Umeå and Umeå Arts Campus are only a stone's throw away from Umeå town centre and are situated next to one of Sweden's largest and most well-renowned university hospitals. The university also has campuses in the neighbouring towns Skellefteå and Örnsköldsvik.

At Umeå University, you will also find the highly-ranked Umeå Institute of Design, the environmentally certified Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics and the only architectural school with an artistic orientation – Umeå School of Architecture. The university also hosts a contemporary art museum Bildmuseet and Umeå's science centre – Curiosum. Umeå University is one of Sweden's five national sports universities and hosts an internationally recognised Arctic Research Centre.

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